Doctor Who : The Fractured Vortex
by Doctor Project
Summary: The Doctor goes to Cardiff to refuel but things get complicated when Torchwood finds a body with two hearts...
1. Chapter 1 : Trouble In A Little Shop

**Chapter One: Trouble In A Little Shop  
**

A bored, miserable line of children shuffled and shambled their way slowly through the long cold corridors of the National Museum of Wales. It was eight in the morning. They were cranky and understandably rather discontented. Even though the orphanage wasn't too gorgeous, the children had possibly hoped to go somewhere more exciting.

Cardiff was not on the list of what they thought of as an exciting place to go for their yearly trip. There had been excited whispers all throughout the home when a ten year old had told another ten year old that he'd heard the word 'Disney' being tossed around. Compared to that, this was quite the magnificent letdown.

As the torturous tour continued on, at the back of the line of backpacked children, Ivy Regalson could barely keep her eyes open. Being older than most of the fifty other kids of the home however she had to keep vigil and keep an eye on them. Usually once boredom sets in with the younger ones, trouble starts to manifest. That was the last thing Ivy wanted. And even though she was not too happy with some of the destinations they ended up in, she wouldn't want Matron Hannigan to fulfil her promise of cancelling future trips if anyone misbehaved.

Wanting to ensure everything went well she looked through the mass of children checking everyone was still in the huddled group. This was all aided by the fact that everyone had to paste a sticker with their name on it on their respective shirt, which all the abiding children of the orphanage did. Well, except for Ivy and Matt.

"This is so boring! I thought we were going to go on roller coasters or something," moaned the thirteen year old trudging sorely next to Ivy, pouting as he did.

"Shut up Matt. And walk properly will you?" said Ivy as she nudged the back of his head forward lightly with her hand.

"Alright alright," he hissed back at her.

"Aren't you bored? I am. Look! Even the guy in this picture is bored," he said with his finger perilously close to touching it.

"Oi! Don't touch anything. I told you didn't I? If you get into trouble today the matron will make sure we never see daylight ever again. And remember, no nicking anything," she warned, tossing her light-brown hair out of her face. It was always good to have her line of sight unblocked by her treacherous hair when dealing with the kids.

"Don't worry. There's nothing fun here worth stealing anyways," he said quietly under his breath even though he was sure Ivy could still hear him.

Matt Thomas was like a little brother to Ivy. Ever since he was little and first brought to the orphanage, he had been under her close watchful supervision. People grew distant from one another in their particular gray dull and despondent orphanage but Ivy and Matt were different. They had always been close, for some odd reason or another, and neither knew why. Matt had only been three when his parents died, and from the lack of attention he received at the orphanage, he developed a need for it.

Whenever Ivy wasn't looking or wasn't paying him much mind, he would do something drastic. This included the occasional kleptomania that he was prone to. It was a sore spot for Ivy and he got the worst glare accompanied by a very long lecture if she caught him. That is- if she was looking. Ivy hated it because Matt was such a magnet for trouble of all sorts, and she still kept looking after him, as if there were a grudging blood tie between them.

Perhaps it was the orphanage, the desire to have someone to call family. Perhaps Ivy had always wanted a sibling. And maybe Matt knew that he needed a person like Ivy around.

The tour seemed to go on forever. It was only fleetingly interesting for the children when they went to the Glanely Discovery Gallery where they were able to get their hands on some artefacts. Pent up energy they had to keep within themselves burst gladly as Ivy watched some of the other kids try to turn some prehistoric rock into dust with their bare hands and the bottom end of their water bottles.

That was before Ivy stepped in and gave them her infamous glare. She was glad there was at least some fun to be had by the younger kids who all started chattering excitedly away. Matt though was strangely quiet. Ivy supposed he was simply following her instructions. She rolled her eyes upwards as she made a mental note to thank him later.

The hands on experience brought back some momentary excitement. That was before everything slumped back to its former dragging pace through a rather complicated talk about nineteenth century art. The plump grey haired guide then proceeded to drone endlessly about the architecture and the shows till even the adults could barely hide their boredom. Eventually the group made their way past a series of small shops within the Museum itself and onwards to the other half of the museum.

Ivy briefly wondered how long the tour would continue. It hadn't looked to be that big until now. She sighed and willed her feet to keep walking. They were starting to get tired. She looked down and noticed one of her shoelaces was untied, so she immediately took that as an excuse to rest a bit while re-tying them.

She knelt down and started tying, expecting Matt to wait for her as he usually did (mostly to tease her or something to that effect), but he didn't wait. She looked ahead and realised he wasn't at the back of the group, either...

Ivy frantically looked around from her spot on the floor, but there was no sign of him. She sighed, standing once again.

'_Well, that leaves a few places he could have gone off to. One being outside, which really doesn't help_,' she thought shaking her head, '_Oh, he is so dead.'  
_

_

* * *

_

Matt was still chuckling as he gave Ivy the slip. He was grateful just to be out of that ridiculously boring tour. He was hungry, tired, and just wanted a chance to breathe. And he could fix the hungry bit. He spotted a store up ahead. A nice, forgettable, ordinary little shop. And, most advantageously, it was packed.

_'Perfect,' _he thought, speeding up his pace a bit.

He hadn't had a Mars Bar in what felt like forever. The Matron forbade them, and what with Ivy watching him constantly, he hadn't had the chance to nick one, either. He made his way, edging cautiously into the shop making sure no one there paid him much attention.

He squeezed pass a bumbling man in pinstripes and a long, thick coat nodding animatedly, saying, "Nice! A lovely little shop. I like little shops…"

Matt wasn't too sure the shop being packed was a good thing anymore. It was maybe now too packed; Matt couldn't get near the shelves. He stared around, looking up at the shelves dazzlingly full of an assortment of sweet delights.

Matt's eyes began to water just looking at it and his stomach rumbled approvingly. He glanced at the label of prices and frowned slightly before it vanished from his young round face. He had not intended to pay for them anyways, seeing as he hadn't brought any money with him. Not that he had much, being an orphan.

He moved aside pocketing several things along the way to the sweets rack including several small packets of differing sorts of crisps. He swiftly stuffed them all under his jacket making sure he managed to secure everything in place.

Matt had been caught several painful times before when his loot fell out of his clothing at the most inopportune moments. He also had to put back a few bulky items. Too much and everyone would know what he had underneath. Ivy always lectured about how stealing was not the smartest thing to do.

But stealing smartly was always a good habit Matt decided. Doing something stupid stupidly and doing something stupid cunningly were two different things altogether; getting away and getting caught.

Matt often got very enthralled during his "covert raids" as he called it. Sweets were his favourite items to take. On this occasion he did not want to miss anything so he got some of everything. Mars Bars, Snickers, Bluble's Tastiest Chewing Gum, Chupa Chups Lollipops and Mint Aero Bars. He deposited these goodies in his empty pockets he always reserved just for the "good stuff".

Once he thought he had enough and made sure that nobody had seen his act he began to casually sidle furtively towards the exit, glancing coyly at the shop assistant who was busy shuffling money into the cash register.

Whenever he caught someone's eye he craftily pretended to look for someone, as if he had lost sight of where his parents had been. A perfectly innocent behaviour for a child. He was almost at the exit when a voice from behind called out to him.

"Hey. Hey! Kid. Hold on!"

Matt turned to see a huge face an inch from his own, beaming a huge smile straight at him. It was the strange man in the dark brown suit he bumped into from before!

No chance of running away now that this man was in his face. He'd been caught. Miss Hannigan was going to slaughter him. He could see her raging mad eyes and her shrill screeching voice and the long wooden cane she used to punish him. Then after that, he was sure Ivy was going to kill him. That was if he didn't have to go to jail for theft first. A long future of misery sprawled out in Matt's mind...

"I'm gonna die. I'm gonna be murdered. I'm gonna be killed. Killed. Killed. Killed...to death! Aw man..." he said quietly to himself through clenched teeth as he smiled back timidly.

"I think you dropped something," said the man still beaming his great big smile at him. His brown wild messy hair poking in Matt's face. He seemed not to have heard him.

"Huh?" said Matt puzzled.

"This! Your chocolate! Don't want you to forget your chocolate. Just don't forget to brush your teeth later on... Then you can have nice shiny healthy teeth like mine. See?" chattered the man excitedly pushing his smile further forward into Matt's face as he handed him the Mars bar. Matt nervously smiled a bit and took the bar from him, stuffing it back into his pocket.

"Oh...right. Thanks, mister," said Matt as the man ruffled Matt's hair and turned happily back to admiring the shop.

This man was clearly one of those weirdoes Ivy had warned him about. He was completely mental. Wearing sneakers with a suit on? He decided to simply just take the chocolate and walk away before he caught anyone else's attention. Who knows what the mad bloke was going to do next? He was lucky, but his luck wasn't going to last forever. He moved quickly for the exit. He was almost there...

"Oi! Wait a minute little man," boomed another voice as a big hairy hand fell on his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah?" said Matt turning and regretting not just running straight out. He saw the large pink faced shop assistant staring down at him. His cavernous nostrils flaring and a vein was pulsing horribly in his temple.

"You gonna pay for that? And all the other stuff?"

"Uh..."

"You're coming with me boy," said the shop assistant as he took Matt by the scruff of his neck.

"No! No! Wait! I can explain! Really it was..." started Matt as his eyes darted around looking for away to get free.

"HIM!" shouted Matt excitedly. Matt pointed straight at the weirdo in the coat.

"What?" said the man his eyes wide turning around to see what the excitement was all about.

"What? What's he got to do with this?" asked the giant of a man who was still dangling Matt with just one arm gripping him tightly.

"It was him! He...he told me to take it. H-h-he made me steal and stuff!" explained Matt as earnestly as he could pointing furiously. It was a far-fetched story Matt realised and he wished he could think faster on his feet. Well, he wasn't on his feet at the time, but still. Not even the thickest child would believe him. You'd have to be a right moron to do so.

"What? Well really! If that isn't the most disgusting thing I've ever heard," said the moron, as he promptly released Matt, who fell to the cold, hard floor on his hands and knees. "Shame on you! Getting a kid to steal petty snacks for you?"

"I...what?" The strange man said, increasingly confused.

"I'm calling the police," the assistant snapped back.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, I didn't do anything. I just gave him the chocolate bar he dropped! That's all! I didn't know he was stealing anything."

"Sure you didn't!" the angry man barked louder. He seemed to have completely forgotten about Matt and let his focus rest entirely on the absurd looking man standing in front of him.

"It was just a Mars Bar! He just dropped it and I picked it up for him! Besides, I wouldn't ask him to steal Mars Bars! I like Cadbury! Look!" he said. Pulling a Cadbury bar out his coat pocket.

"YOU WERE GONNA STEAL THAT!" boomed the shop assistant as his face turned a horrid tinge of purple.

"Wha-? No no no! It's just my pockets! I use them to carry ...You know... I was gonna pay for it! I found a note and... Really! Honest! I'm just a tourist…" babbled the man manically waving his arms trying to prove his innocence.

Matt looked back, triumphantly sneaking his way out of the shop and down the long, stony hall. He'd made it away from the only person who could have caught him-

"Matt!"

He heard a loud, angry whisper as he rounded the corner. He gulped and met the very displeased brown eyes of Ivy Regalson herself. She was standing there, shooting him a look of absolute fury. Matt could almost feel her gaze penetrating his skull. He looked down at the floor, for fear that if he looked at her eyes for too long, his own would melt.

"I. Have. Been. Looking. For. You," she said through clenched teeth. Ivy glanced around, as if the matron would appear any second. She looked back at Matt, who was avoiding her eyes.

"Sorry," he said quietly, risking a quick glance back up at her. She'd know where he was and exactly what he did, anyway. It was no use.

"Come on, we're going back right now and if Matron Hannigan finds us missing, -you- can explain," Ivy stated.

She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow, "And if she doesn't, you're splitting half of whatever you got from that store with me. Bloody starving."

At that, she put a hand at the back of his jacket and forced him to walk down the hall with her. Matt glanced back at the chaos behind him. At least that guy hadn't caught him. Weirdo.


	2. Chapter 2 : Unexpected Companions

**Chapter Two: Unexpected Companions  
**

"I swear, six feet tall and with TUSKS!" Jack exclaimed to a roar of laughter. The atmosphere in the Hub was upbeat and cheery. Captain Jack Harkness was in his office retelling the newly reformed crew his favourite past encounters- something he had been doing quite often recently.

The new additions seemed to have lightened things up. Perhaps it was Martha Jones' beautiful smile and wit that did it, or maybe Mickey's playfulness and humour. Whatever it was, Jack was really enjoying the buoyant vibe going around and was hoping to keep it going for as long as possible. He knew that with Torchwood, good times don't last too long.

"That's unbelievable! I don't believe it. You're making it up! It can't be true," snorted Gwen Cooper hysterically as she nudged Ianto playfully, seeing him completely lose restraint howling away silently with laughter next to her. Jack took a short pause as the entire group quietly laughed at Ianto's rare outburst of emotion before he continued his story.

"Turns out the white things are tusks, and it's woken up, and it was so not happy to see fifteen of us naked there! We ran full pelt and Brako falls and I turn to him and say-"

"We shoulda turned left," supplied Mickey as the entire group cracked up heartily at the punch line.

"You stole my line AGAIN!" guffawed Jack. "That's so unfair! I'm gonna get you for that later."

"Oh really? When you retell the same old joke? Remember? Couple years back with the Slitheen lady," he shuddered playfully," That was a real mess."

"Ah, yeah. Forgot about that," he said.

"Well, you tend to forget and lose track of a few things when you've lived a few hundred years. Unless you're the Doctor, maybe. Speaking of which, he should be back by now, "Jack said delicately as he turned to Martha.

"He said he wanted to do a bit of sightseeing on his own," shrugged Martha. "Maybe he's just enjoying himself. The TARDIS still has about 16 hours worth of refuelling left to go anyways."

"Too bad the Rift's been so quiet. It would have been fun to run around Cardiff with him again," he said resonantly. "For old times' sake," he added, as he caught Ianto's eye.

For a few seconds there was complete silence.

**BOOM!  
**  
Then the whole office shivered and Jack sat bolt upright, staring at the ceiling. Something strange was happening. There seemed to be an earthquake. Perhaps just a Rift wave of energy. Perhaps it was nothing. BOOM. The whole hub quivered once more. Dust fell slowly through the air. Slowly, the crew began making their way out of Jack's office, staring either blankly into the high ceiling or to each other.

There was a pause. Then -

**SMASH!**

A deafening explosion rocked the Hub. Bright white flashes of light burst from the Rift Manipulator high above. It churned and angrily issued dark hot smoke all around as sparks erupted from underneath it, cascading all over the main area.

"What the hell's going on?" Jack roared as he sprinted back into his office to grab a fire extinguisher and straight to the Rift Manipulator. Gwen and Martha were already at computers typing away furiously to find the information.

"Oh my god Jack," shouted Gwen as Jack fought against the flames. "It's all over the place."

"What's all over the place?" asked Mickey as he joined her at the computer staring wide eyed at the screen.

"Rift activity. Spiking all over Cardiff. It's stretching out. Tons of them Jack," said Gwen tensely.

"It's impossible! Rift energy's off the scale. It's widening. By itself!" shouted Martha. "Tosh's calculations were all accurate. But this shouldn't be happening at all."

"Never mind that now. We've probably got tons of aliens crawling all over Cardiff right now. We need to contain them before anyone gets hurt," commanded Jack as he ran back to the team. "We'll deal with whatever caused this later. Ianto, prep the SUV."

"Yes sir," Ianto replied, running off.

"Jack, I don't think you understand. It's all over the place. Look," gestured Gwen towards the computer. "14 just in one sector. We're never going to be able to get to all the aliens in time. There's too few of us!"

"Gwen, I need you to focus. We've handled things this big before. Pull some strings with the police. Get the right people to the right places. Make up a story. I don't care. Martha, get through to UNIT. Hate to say this but tell them we need a small favour," instructed Jack carefully.

"Understood," said Martha as she hurried off in the other direction.

"What about the Doctor?" cut Mickey, "Shouldn't we be calling him to warn him or something?"

"Mickey, this is the Doctor you're talking about. I'm sure he can handle himself," said Jack. Although, he feared for everyone else.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Matt and Ivy were still wandering the empty dark halls of the museum, trying to find the tour. They walked and feasted on some crisps as they did. Matt was forced to share his spoils with Ivy. She mentioned something about shoving her new boots up some delicate areas and, being one to keep her word, Matt had reluctantly complied.

Ivy's mind was racing, trying to remember where the incredibly boring woman had said they were going. Something about... history? Ivy stopped dead, and, because she did, Matt did too. He looked at her nervously. Ivy's eyes were closed and she raised a hand to her head in frustration.

"Are we lost?" Matt asked tentatively, afraid that the question might just push Ivy over the edge. She was rather high strung today and Matt knew all the warning signs.

She responded in a flat, sarcastic tone of defeat, "No Matt, we just don't know where we're going."

She let her hand fall with a sigh, looking around, hoping the tour would magically pop out of the walls, and they could continue with their mediocre life and below mediocre tour. The stone walls seemed to grow closer together though the ceiling was too high to make out. Ivy continued leading them up some magnificent marble staircase leading to the upper floors.

It was vast but empty. Nobody else was there on that floor and if they weren't lost before, they were now. Ivy's heart gave a horrible jolt. They were going to be in serious trouble if they didn't find the tour soon.

Then without any warning, the whole building shook angrily and a terrible ripping noise tore through the air. Ivy and Matt were knocked off their feet completely and for a moment they seemed to have had to cling on to the cold stone floor as the world around them shuddered violently.

"Ivy!" screamed Matt behind her.

Then suddenly everything stopped instantaneously. The strange noise that screamed through the air streaked past, then vanished quietly into nothingness. The building no longer shook. The walls calmly stood in its place as though nothing had happened. Ivy got up on her feet quickly and looked around with her heart doing somersaults. Something strange just happened.

"What was that?" gasped Matt as he slowly got up, hand on his bottom which cushioned his fall.

"I dunno. Earthquake?" said Ivy thoughtfully. "Come on, let's just go down to the entrance. Everyone might be waiting for us there."

It was really not her day. She began to walk down the stairs, but then Matt raised a hand.

"Can you...smell something?"

Ivy sniffed carefully and the foulest stench entered her nostrils, a ghastly mix of old socks and raw meat. And then they heard it- a growling and beastly noise. Ivy's heart almost stopped dead.

Matt pointed: it was coming from downstairs. They could now hear shuffling footsteps getting closer. Slowly and carefully Ivy and Matt crept to the banisters of the stairs and peered down.

They shrank down against the stone stairs as they saw it. It was a horrible sight. A large gangly sort of creature with dull, brown skin, its great ugly head perched on top of its muscular beastly body. It sniffed lungfuls of air noisily, turning around on the spot inquisitively and for a moment Ivy saw its terrible face full of razor sharp teeth and exposed gums.

"What is that?" Matt muttered quietly to her.

"I'm not sure," said Ivy nervously, panic rising in her, adrenaline already spread throughout her system as the creature slowly looked up straight at her. Their eyes met. There was an eerie, silent pause before the creature sprang into action. "But I think we better run!"

They ran full pelt down the corridor as they heard the hellish growls of the strange creature grow louder. Ivy dared for a moment to look back. She saw it pursuing them relentlessly up the steps after them. Again, she met its wild, crazed eyes full of hunger and edacity that were set upon her, its bony hands outstretched clawing the air, its dark sunken face leering...

"This way!" cried Matt urgently as he turned right around the corner.

"Do you know where we're actually going?" asked Ivy testily though she followed suit, casting aside her morbid fascination of looking at the beast.

"Does it actually matter?" he shouted back angrily, "We can't actually stop and ask for directions right now if you haven't noticed!"

Ivy resisted an urge to argue before an angry growl from behind reminded her of her predicament. She saved a mental note to blame Matt for this to be used later. If there was a later. Surely the creature would catch up with them.

"Ivy! Stairs! I bloody love stairs!" gasped Matt with relief as he stopped at a fire exit door.

"In! Get in now! Quickly befo-"

Too late. Before she could finish the creature lunged at her back knocking her down. Ivy turned on her back and froze as the fearsome figure towered over her. Rows of razor sharp teeth glinting. It raised its claws high above its head, poised and ready to deliver a fatal wound to its prey. She wished she had known what to do. But she froze. Overcome with shock. The fear engulfing her mind as she lay on the ground, and she knew there would be no release, no escape, that she would die here...

But then, as the moment hung, harsh foam erupted : a jet of billowing swirling white smoke spewed straight into the face of the creature as it faltered and stumbled backwards falling on the ground screaming a harsh cry of pain. Ivy quickly scrambled back up embracing Matt in a tight hug and staring around.

A man in a brown striped suit and a long, light brown coat stood by the fire exit, a silly grin and a fire extinguisher in hand. He turned to Matt and Ivy silently and cocked his head gesturing them to get in the fire exit.

"You!" Matt cried.

"Run," he said, pointing behind him.

Without hesitation Ivy and Matt darted into the stairwell. The man's gaze was fixed on the creature and he did not take his eyes off it when he entered in after them. Then, when they were safely inside, he tossed the fire extinguisher at Matt who fell back down a step as he caught it.

Quickly, he pulled out from his top pocket a long thin object that looked nothing like what Ivy had ever seen before. Without any explanation, he then pointed it at the lock of the door and pressed a button on it.

Blue light and a strange sound emanated from the tip of the object for a few seconds before they heard a resounding click from the lock.

"Right then! That ought to slow him down a bit. Mind you, a Hoix could easily burst through the wooden frame," he turned to face Ivy and Matt who stared back with utter blank expressions on their faces. "Oh, right! Introductions! I'm the Doctor and Mr. Beastie in there is a Hoix. An alien," he added, when their expressions didn't change.

"Aliens?" Matt muttered, still hugging the extinguisher like a lifeline, "They don't exist. You're off your rocker, mate. You really are crazy."

"You're that kid in the shop. And you're a thief," said the Doctor, staring at him.

Loud slashing noises on the other side cut their argument short. The Hoix was attempting to claw its way through the door.

"Down?" asked the Doctor.

"Down," repeated Ivy.

"Down!" cried Matt as he started running down the stairs first, still clutching the fire extinguisher tightly in both arms. Ivy followed while the Doctor took the rear as the first line of defence.

"Ok. If it is an alien, why is it coming after us?" asked Ivy exasperatedly. It was just not making any sense to her.

"It's hungry, and you've got food," said the Doctor. Matt paused for a moment feeling responsible.

"Hoix live to eat. And they eat a lot. It can smell the food through the wrapper, through your jacket, through the door. It can even smell food if you buried it in a nuclear bunker."

The terrible slashing noises grew louder but the pitch was different now from when it started. The Hoix must have made huge progress in tearing the door down.

"Alright. We'll just give it the food then. That ought to stop it, won't it?" asked Ivy again.

"For a while. But now it's got your scent. He thinks you're food too," replied The Doctor quickly.

"We could use this," supplied Matt gesturing to the fire extinguisher. "It looked like it really hurt him just now."

"The Hoix are very sensitive to chemicals."

"Good."

"But that's just foam. It'll sting him. Not stop him."

"Bad."

"-And- it's empty."

"Well why am I carrying it around then?"

"I don't know! You tell me."

A loud metal crash came from above. The Hoix was through. Matt dropped the fire extinguisher immediately and they ran through the exit door just two floors below where they came from. The Doctor stopped to lock the door with his device. Then they sprinted through the long corridor exhausted. Running out of breath and ideas. There was nothing on this floor of the maze-like museum but statues and store rooms. No security guards. No cleaners. No one to help them except The Doctor. They needed a plan quickly. The won't be able to outrun the Hoix forever.

"Wait! Stop!" Ivy cried.

"A store room," she muttered quietly. And then an idea struck her as she grabbed the door knob trying to force it open.

"We can't hide in there!" said Matt desperately.

"I've got an idea," she replied testily. "You--Doctor, can your thing open this?" she panted.

The Doctor looked taken slightly aback at being told what to do. He hesitated for a second and was about to argue but the roaring calls of the Hoix made him spring into action. He produced his metal device and with a click, the door sprung open.

"What's your idea?" he asked Ivy urgently though with a hint of scepticism. His eyes darting between her and the exit where they came from for the monster to come through. Ivy ignored him as she quickly emptied her pockets of all the food and hastily threw them inside the store room. Matt caught on and did the same.

"I told you, it's still got your scent."

But before the Doctor could finish she quickly took off Matt's jacket roughly off him and threw it inside as well. She also deposited her own jacket.

"Oh...kay," said The Doctor inwardly feeling a tiny bit impressed though he did seem to want to argue another point.

"Quick, let's hide," said Ivy as she ran behind a massive marble statue of Boadicea.

They quickly joined her before the fire exit door crashed open. The Hoix charged through it angrily. Then paused, sniffing the air for the scent of food. Its hideous head snapped right to the store room. Cautiously as if sensing a trap, it crept towards the room, crouching low almost on all fours.

Ivy quietly prayed behind the statue that her plan would work. It glanced around momentarily before sniffing the air again and growled angrily into the inside. Then it leapt straight in.

Before Ivy could even get up from behind the statue she saw The Doctor was already at the door. He threw something round and small inside the room before slamming the door shut and with his device, locked the creature in.

There was pathetic moan issued from inside the room as red smoke spewed out of the edges of the door. Then finally when the smoke cleared, there was a great thud from inside.

"Wow, what did you do?" asked Matt, heading for the Doctor too.

"Quinuclidinyl benzilate with a little dash of nitrous oxide. Knockout gas. Stole it from Torchwood. I thought it would be interesting to see how it worked. Pretty well I would say. A bit strong for this fellow over here but no permanent damage. I would say when it wakes up it will still be feeling some confusion, stupor and unfortunately, panoramic illusions and hallucinations."

"You had knockout gas and you didn't tell us?" shouted Ivy.

"Well," said the Doctor stretching the word for a bit "looked like you had it covered."

"Had it covered?"

"Yeah. Pretty good idea to trap it inside like that. Even though you did forget it could smash through doors and you can't get rid of your scent just by throwing away your jackets"

"Yeah well, you're the smart one here. Why didn't you give us your plan? You look like The Man With The Plan."

"Why does everyone call me that?" asked the Doctor quietly to himself. "I didn't have a plan. I never really have a plan. Sometimes I do, and they're really good. But not this time. And like I said, you guys seemed to have had it covered."

"Who -are- you?" asked Matt.

"I'm the Doctor," said the man, grinning proudly at that fact.

"Is that a secret agent name or something?" Matt's eyes narrowed as he inspected the Doctor.

"Not really, no," the Doctor replied, shrugging.

"So, people just call you the Doctor?" Matt clarified.

"Yeah."

"And what exactly do you do, Doctor?" asked Ivy, looking remarkably like Matt in her scepticism.

"Well, I travel a lot. I enjoy knitting sometimes. Books. Read loads of books-," the Doctor began to detail his life, but Ivy cut him off.

"I meant," interjected Ivy, "What do you do? Is this a job or something? I mean you know about aliens and stuff. Do you work for the government?"

"Nah, I just travel. Cardiff's just a regular pit stop for me," once again, the Doctor gave a shrug and a grin.

"Wait," cried Matt, "Never mind all that now. What about that Hoix thing in there? He's not going to be unconscious all day."

"I'm going to call some friends. They can take care of him. Send it back to its home planet before he even wakes up," said The Doctor briskly as he pulled out a mobile phone from his coat pocket.

Ivy's mind was racing. She ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly, fixing the floor with a bewildered stare. Aliens. Home planets. Hoix. Questions exploded inside Ivy's head like fireworks. It was all finally sinking in. Aliens really existed. No denying it now no matter what the newspapers said about rising alien hoaxes. She finally saw one up close. Too close.

She didn't know what to think or feel. She felt petrified of what she didn't know, but then the next second she felt absolutely elated as though a large balloon was swelling inside of her. She couldn't believe it. Well, she could now. Aliens were real.

Then there was some commotion. Heavy shuffling of feet was heard. Rhythmic and heavy footfalls echoing all around the corridor. The Doctor raised an eyebrow towards high heaven and turned off his phone. Ivy moved in front of Matt protectively and the Doctor moved before her. Then at the end of the corridor came five heavily armed men with their rifles pointing directly at them.

"It's okay! It's okay. It's me! It's me! I'm the Doctor," announced the Doctor quickly and all of them lowered their weapons.

"Doctor, we have orders for you to come with us," said one of them, "And your companions," he added, noticing both Ivy and Matt who were still behind him.

"They're not my-," the Doctor started to explain.

"Ok!" cheered Matt and Ivy in unison.


	3. Chapter 3 : Journey to the Hub

**Chapter Three: Journey to the Hub**

"You're not coming!"

"Of course we are! There's no way we're staying here!" argued Matt.

"It's too dangerous," replied The Doctor.

"Yeah and leaving us with the Hoix thing is a lot safer is it?" chided Ivy. "What if there are more of them? There could be more of them."

"There aren't. I've checked with them and th-"

"Can you be sure?" persisted Ivy.

"Well-" the Doctor began.

"See? You can't leave us with the aliens! And besides, you owe us. Matt and I saved you from the Hoix," said Ivy triumphantly. The Doctor couldn't get out of this one.

"What? I thought I did that," said the Doctor.

"Nope. Last I heard, you didn't have a plan. That means you'd have probably been eaten. So there's that. We're coming with. We humans have got to stick together," ended Ivy.

"Speak for yourself," muttered The Doctor under his breath.

"What?" asked Matt and Ivy in unison again.

"Nothing."

The UNIT soldiers led them out of the maze-like museum orderly and quietly. Matt and Ivy seemed to be rather enjoying themselves, diligently following any instruction to stay put, stop or walk quickly. In particular they kept staring fascinated at all the gadgets and gizmos the soldiers were using to communicate and check for alien technology or life forms in the vicinity.

A tiny little smile spread across The Doctor's face at the sight of their blatant curiosity and inquisitiveness. In the back of his head, a tiny little voice said, "_I quite like them_".

The Doctor had been travelling for quite a while on his own again. Recently, he had decided that maybe that would be best. All the universes were bright, wonderful, beautiful and utterly brilliant. And sharing it with someone had always been far better. Always better with friends. The infinite wasn't meant to be kept to oneself. Always better with companions. Such a splendid world. But for all its great wonders, it was always dangerous.

As the UNIT soldiers checked that the elevator was secure and safe for them to use, Matt turned to The Doctor and looked him up and down several times. Then before the Doctor could ask, he turned and looked a UNIT soldier with a distinct large jaw up and down as well. The soldier looked at the Doctor who simply shrugged.

As they squeezed into the elevator, Matt leaned to Ivy and whispered as quietly as he could, "What does UNIT stand for?"

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce," said the Doctor happily. He didn't think to whisper as even the soldiers had heard Matt but they remained stoic anyways. Typical UNIT soldier behaviour. Silent and stalwart through anything. Ice warrior invasion, zygon assault, pirate raids, glaringly bad tactical decisions...anything. Silent and stalwart, all the time.

This suited The Doctor quite nicely. He always enjoyed providing the answers for everybody else.

"Formerly known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. A military organisation working under the authority of the UN to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. Their motto is '_Any threat. Any location. Protecting humanity no matter how far it takes us_'. You should check out their website. Very retro."

"Combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth..." said Ivy slowly trying to slowly understand it all.

"Awesome," cooed Matt. He watched the soldiers for a while but none of them looked back.

"So, are all aliens bad?" Ivy asked the Doctor.

"That's a strange question to be asking The Doctor," said the large jawed soldier quickly, though he seemed to refuse to look at anything but the glowing numbers flashing above him. The Doctor raised a quizzical eyebrow looking at the uncharacteristically friendly UNIT soldier.

"What? Why is it strange? What do you mean by that?" Matt blurted away, no longer fascinated by the soldiers.

There was a high "Ping!" as they arrived on ground floor and the soldiers quickly vacated the elevator leading them out urgently. As they moved swiftly across the reception Ivy and Matt looked at each other when they noticed there was nobody else around. Her stomach did a somersault as she remembered Miss Hannigan and the others.

"What happened to everyone else?" she asked urgently.

"We covered the Rift activity by saying it was an earthquake and asked the public to stay indoors. We've moved the people here to a bomb shelter until we can be sure it's safe," bellowed the friendly soldier as informally as possible.

"Is there a problem?" he added uncertainly.

"Ah, well," began Ivy softly as they stopped in the entrance way. Quickly glancing at The Doctor, who was preoccupied giving orders to another soldier, she leaned in to whisper, "We came with a group of orphans for a tour and they might be looking for us. I mean, we don't want to go back, but what if they file a missing children report or something. I guess that would show Miss Hannigan still has a heart even if it's made almost entirely out of stone. Anyways, we want to follow this bloke for a bit, but we can't be in two places at one time. I mean, I just want to know more about aliens! So, is there anyway you could help us?"

She said this all very fast.

There was a tense pause.

"I'll see what I can do. We have orders to assist the Doctor and his companions," he said finally. "Although, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about it. The Doctor can sort you out there. He's got a few tricks up his sleeve."

"Private Jonathan Davies," he added.

"I'm Ivy. And this is Matt," she said shaking his hesitantly outstretched hand. Ivy cast a sidelong glance over at the Doctor. There was something strange about him. For some reason, he knew about aliens. He looked like an ordinary bloke... well, somewhat ordinary, anyway, nothing to stare at. These UNIT men knew him. He was important. If only she could figure out why...

Matt noticed Ivy's analyzing stare. She was looking for any sign of strange behaviour. Matt began to look him over, too. Maybe he was a superhero, and this was his secret identity, but with a budgeted costume. Apart from that, he looked absolute normal and yet special. Several minutes passed in silence until two great and intimidating military jeeps thundered into view. The vehicles swiftly approached with some urgency, stopping orderly next to the Doctor.

"I'm sitting in the front!" Matt called out excitedly.

"Sorry, that's my place," said Private Davies quickly, pulling Matt back by his shirt. "You and the Doctor go in the back I'm afraid," addressing Ivy and The Doctor as well.

Though he pouted slightly, Matt happily jumped in followed by the Doctor. The two of them behaving childishly jumping and bouncing on their seats. A bemused Ivy boarded with better manners. The UNIT soldiers rushed around, scanning things with high pings, speaking into earpieces as they their received orders, checking over the vehicles before they set off.

Houses flashed past the window and Ivy felt a great leap of excitement and adventure. She didn't know the man she was travelling with, she didn't know the danger she was going to face, she didn't know where or what she was going to - but it had to be better. Better than what she was leaving behind.

"Err - question, where exactly are we going?" Matt asked, looking out into the unfamiliar streets and at the Doctor. The Doctor quickly turned to Private Davies in the front passenger seat and made a strange face as if to confirm his suspicions.

"The Hub," said Private Davies nodding to the Doctor. It felt like they were having a secret conversation with each other and Matt and Ivy were only allowed to hear tiny details.

"Right. The Hub. What's that?" pressed Ivy, trying to learn as much as she could of this new world that was unravelling around her.

"The Hub. Headquarters to the Cardiff Branch of Torchwood."

"Hub. Headquarters. Torchwood?"

"Torchwood. Outside the government, beyond the police, under the Roald Dahl Plass, right next to the Water Tower. Fighting for the future on behalf of the human race," explained The Doctor theatrically, pausing for a moment and very apparently thinking to himself. Ivy thought she could even hear the cogs and gears moving in his head.

"So they're like UNIT?" asked Matt, his face screwed up in a mix of confusion.

"Well, sort of, I suppose," replied The Doctor hesitantly. "There's a Rift in time and space situated in and above Cardiff. The other end, or possibly ends, of the Rift wander randomly in time and space and pick up stuff which cross over here."

"Stuff?"

"Alien stuff."

"So aliens, come to Cardiff," mumbled Ivy slowly aloud, as she tried to understand. She didn't notice the Doctor staring and observing her with an eyebrow raised, eyes narrowed and his spiky hair fizzing slightly with some excitement.

"Aliens, come to Cardiff," she repeated again finally as if finally understanding.

"Not by choice I hope," interjected Matt as he jabbed a thumb to the window.

"Tell me about it. I'm only here to refuel my ship. Thought I'd walk about and see what's what. Next thing I know, I'm running for my life with you two. I mean you wouldn't get that at a petrol station would you? Well not in the past. Now it's all air conditioned shops festooned with stuff nobody ever really needs and unrelated to the main thing you go to the station for. If I had to go there, I'd come out with a two-man tent, a director's chair and several torch lights."

As usual, he said all this very fast. Matt and Ivy tried to digest the information slowly, feeling dazed.

"Wait. Hold on. You said, your 'ship'," said Ivy hesitantly.

"Yeah. I did," answered the Doctor simply but not looking at her anymore.

"Ship...like in spaceship?" asked Ivy, now as interested in the Doctor as she was in the whole aliens story.

"Yup," he said.

"Alien space ship?" pressed Ivy eagerly now. "Alien as in, outer space alien? Mars, black holes, stars?"

"M'hm," nodded the Doctor as he led and encouraged Ivy along. He poorly acted as if he was nonplussed by ruffling the hair on the back of his head.

"You have an alien spaceship," whispered Matt breathily in awe. He looked both shocked and impressed.

"Are you..." trailed Ivy into silence. She knew she didn't have to finish the sentence.

"Yes."

"Who...what are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Is that your real name?"

"You can't say my real name"

"So it's a fake name," said Matt. "You should always be yourself...unless you suck."

"You look human. For an alien, you look horrible. Shouldn't you have googly eyes and tentacles?"

"Don't hold back. How do you really feel about?" said the Doctor mockingly but giving them one of his brilliant grins.

"I mean, why do you look like us? Like human beings? You look human."

"You look Time Lord. I don't look like you. You, look like me," said the Doctor. "Morphic field. Time Lords evolved a long time ago, right at the dawn of the universe. And it took ages and ages and ages...but we finally grew into this form. The one that was most durable. Most suitable for survival - still is and always will be. But the energy we produced when we were evolving for so long, left a slight genetic imprint in the morphic field, causing hundreds of other life forms to grow almost entirely like us, give or take a few extra organs."

Ivy repeated those words again slowly in her head and realized, to her astonishment, she actually understood the rather frantic explanation the Doctor gave. She made a mental note to get the Doctor to tutor her in biology if she still had to go back to school. She might finally be able to learn something in that class. But questions were still buzzing around in her mind and she didn't know which ones to ask first. Every other query she had seemed as glaringly important as the next.

However, she was saved the trouble of choosing, as their transport began slowing down. Matt and Ivy peered out of their windows. It was strangely dark. The deep-purple sky was clear and cloudless with the sun blazing high above them. However it felt gray, cold and Ivy could swear her skin was tightening. A bristling tingling sensation ran up her arm as the vehicle slowed down to a halt and they arrived at the Roald Dahl Plaza.

Ivy unfolded her jacket which she recovered from the Hoix room, and pulled it on. Ivy quickly checked her watch. It was nowhere near evening yet, but it looked and certainly felt like it. She knew the trip would involve the cold and the rain. It was Wales after all. The Welsh join the navy just to get somewhere dryer for crying out loud. But this was different. The cold bit to the bone intensely. Everyone else seemed to feel it when they got out of the jeep. Matt cursed under his breath. The Doctor stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and shivered slightly as he jumped out. Then she noticed only the three of them had alighted.

"Aren't you coming?" Matt asked.

"Nope. This as far as we go. We're leaving this to Torchwood now." replied Private Davies darkly. "And you, Doctor. As usual." He turned to the Doctor and gave him a salute, that he did no reciprocate.

"Good luck."

"Thanks for the ride," said the Doctor as he patted the jeep away. "Right, come on then. The Hub. This way. Allons-y."

Ivy's stomach lurched with nerves, but Matt, she saw, looked entirely happy, his rosy cheeks flushed with excitement. Though, she then realized it was probably just the wind chill. The two of them trailed behind the Doctor as he led the way into the open and empty Roald Dahl Plass. The place turned creepily quiet when the rumble of jeeps died out and nobody spoke much. The Doctor only sniffed once or twice.

Then he suddenly stopped, turned on the spot to face them, and smiled broadly. In this moment of slight confusing, he grabbed the two of them into a rather strange

"What?" asked Matt, completely befuddled.

"Ever read Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?" he asked happily.

"Yeahbutwhat?" replied Matt. "What are you doing? Can we get to this Hub or hullabaloo or whateveryacallit or not? It's bloody freezing out here."

"Yes," answered Ivy, willing to play the Doctor's little game -which she suspected was the fastest way to get into the Hub. The temperature seemed to be falling as minutes passed.

"Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator?"

"Yes," she lied, wondering what on earth this was all about.

Then slowly, with a slight shudder, the floor tile they were standing on began to sink. The Earth started gliding up above their heads.

"Not really the Great Glass Elevator since it's not made of glass. More Ministry of Magic telephone box now that I think about it -without the phone box... well that's not technically true...Police box really."

Ivy ignored the Doctor's strange ramblings. She watched anxious and apprehensive as the ground seemingly rose up above their heads. Then, there was darkness with the ground above sealing itself and she could see nothing at all though she could still feel the Doctor and Matt beside next to her.

After a few more seconds -though Ivy felt it was much longer - of utter darkness with only the low grinding and shuddering noise accompanying them as they made their way down through the ground, a tiny glittering chink of bright golden light illuminated her feet and rose up till it bathed her face causing her to blink to stop her eyes from welling up.

Her heart gave an excited and horrible jolt. She could almost see the room below as it slowly widened... Feeling oddly as though her legs had turned to lead, she grabbed on to a fistful of the Doctor's coat. She never imagined such a strange and splendid place.

"Matt and Ivy, welcome to the Hub."


	4. Chapter 4 : Dangerous Voices Begin

**Chapter Four: Dangerous Voices Begin  
**

The man appeared seemingly out of nowhere, several long yards away from the UNIT jeep that trundled noisily away, in the narrow and cold, street lamp lit lane. For a tense moment, he stood quite still, Thompson submachine gun in hand with his gloved fingers warily on the trigger. Then when he was sure the jeep was out of sight, he stowed his cold weapon happily behind his back and carefully watched the Doctor and his two new companions walk aimlessly around Roald Dahl Plass. The Mercenary stared patiently, adjusted his dark trilby hat to hide his face from the cold and watching eyes. Hiding in the lane, bordered by tall stony walls, his long grey cloak flapping frantically around his ankles, he edged closer to look.

_"G'head. Say it Wade. I know whatcha' thinkin'."_

_"You know you want to."_

_"It's on the tip of your tongue."_

_"A big fat one over the centre of the plate."_

"Is there a Doctor in the house?" said The Mercenary to the voices in his head.

There was no one else around. His voice drowned in the unrelenting cold wind. The city had been quietly emptied of people by the UNIT soldiers an hour ago. People always did what they were told if the person telling them what to do had a weapon in their hands, which probably explains the United States. Following the same logic, the Mercenary was heavily armed: One small amphibolt laser blaster that was good for fatal shots, one Nova-47 pistol that was good for fatal shots, one Earth-Sol 3 Thompson machine gun that was good for several fatal shots at once, a katana that was good for posing with in case you get caught on camera and several plasma grenades leftover from last year's Bonfire Night.

The Mercenary, also known to his voices as Wade Watson, had been watching the city hours before, from the comfort of his cloaked Porax-38 Starfighter. Normally Wade would have preferred to come in all guns blazing and against all odds kill everyone like in those ridiculous-American-soldier-action type movies but this time he was under terrifyingly strict orders not to annihilate anyone he didn't need to, and he was going to follow those orders to the letter - unless he met Oprah Winfrey which was a lifelong dream of his.

"That didn't sound as cool as I thought it would," he continued, addressing the voices again.  
_  
"I thought it was good. Do you ever shiver when you pee? That's how I felt when you said it."_

"Really?" he asked quietly.

_"Oh yeah, yeah. Definitely. Very, uhm, impressive. What do you guys think?"_

_"I thought it was really, what's the word, 'badass'. That's the one."_

_"Wow. Great."_

_"Uhm, yeah, what they said."_

"Do you guys want me to say it again?"

_"No," _chimed the voices in unison quickly.

The Mercenary continued to observe the Doctor and his two young friends carefully. He had been warned that the Doctor was not someone he should underestimate and seeing him in the flesh sharpened his interest palpably. Curiosity gripped him. Wade's dark eyes flashed and fastened upon the Doctor's handsome face intensely, his thin lips curved into a smile, and his body stiffened, but only in the appropriate areas for he was not that sort of man. He was the sort of man that enjoyed killing; and knitting. Though obviously not at the same time nor directly one after the other.

_"Is that him?"_

_"Of course it's him"_

_"Two children and no weapons"_

"We should keep quiet. We're supposed to be spying," hissed The Mercenary angrily.

_"They can't hear us you moron."_

"Oh. Yeah. That's right," he replied.

_"But they can hear you."_

_"I laugh at your pitiful attempts at spying... Here I go... __**MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA."**_

_"Oh my god. How did you do that?"_

_"Do what?"_

_"Speak in all capitals like that."_

_"I'm not telling."_

_"Tell me!"_

_"Nuuh."_

The Mercenary allowed the voices to argue amongst themselves in the back of his mind. He had to concentrate on whatever it was he was doing. He watched apprehensively as The Doctor and his companions suddenly entirely vanish. They had entered the Torchwood base and it was impregnable with its time-lock defence system. Nothing he could do now except Plan B. His mission was clear. Bring the Doctor dead or alive. Or was it just dead? He couldn't actually remember anymore. He was on his hunt.

"I'm really good at killing. You might say it's my specialty. That and polka dancing. But guess which one I can actually make a living at?"

* * *

"Woah woah woah, what the hell is this?" cried out an incredulous Jack Harkness rushing out of his office as The Doctor, Ivy and Matt staggered off the cold tile platform and onto the noisy metal floor. Jack entered the loading bay looking slightly battle worn and quickly stowing away his weapon back in its holster, concealed under his dark long coat which the Doctor noticed had two visible burn marks on the chest area, at the sight of the Doctor's new companions.

"What happened?" asked The Doctor innocently, turning on the spot and looking around him. "What?"

"That! Them! These two!" exclaimed the Captain who directed his outstretched arm at Ivy and Matt, who were silent in awe as they watched Myfawny, the Hub's pet pteronodon, glide above them, silently observing the newcomers in return. Jack glowered down at the Doctor and there was no need for him to say another word; he understood what Jack meant immediately, though he refused to stop pretending he didn't.

"Oh! That! Them. These two. They're Matt and Ivy. I found them at the museum," he said cheekily, rocking back and forth on his heels and smiling "They kinda helped me out with a Hoix problem. But I couldn't get rid of them. A bit annoying really," he added. He paused suddenly as he realised what he had just said aloud, "Oh, sorry that was a bit rude. We're still friends right?"

Matt and Ivy nodded nervously, still rather overwhelmed by the Hub. They were still swivelling round on the spot, issuing a long lasting collective sigh. The Doctor wasn't quite sure they were listening at all. Jack Harkness put his hands on his hips angrily and opened his mouth to argue. However, Mickey Smith, who had come in to see what the shouting was all about, saw them, and did it for him.

"Kids!", he interjected loudly and advanced on the Doctor. "What the hell are kids doing here? We can't have kids in the Hub."

"Aww. Why not? It's not that great," replied the Doctor indignantly. He grumbled quite silently to himself, glancing left and right as he did, trying to appreciate the Hub on any sort of level. The invisible lift he just took was quite fun, but that couldn't really count. After all, they had a lot of help from him for that one, even though it wasn't really his intention at the time. He began reminiscing about the last time Mickey, Jack and The Doctor were together here, when his slight distraction vanished at once when realised what he had just said about the Hub. "Rude again, sorry!"

Jack briefly gave a non-committal grunt to the floor on the subject before returning to glower at him again. Mickey was quick to join in, "Boss, in case you haven't noticed, it's a bit too dangerous. There's been a spike in Rift activity which we can't explain, aliens been crawling all over the place, and besides, Torchwood's top secret."

"You say that, but you still order pizza with that name," said the Doctor a bit more quietly. Jack did not smile.

"It's a membership thing! We've almost got enough pizza stamps to win a foot massager. Your feet really hurt when you're immortal and can't sleep. Trust me," said Jack, not entirely truthfully, because he wasn't sure why they'd stopped doing that. He made a mental note to punish Ianto Jones for that later.

"Alright, they can stay," Jack sighed, as the Doctor's grin reappeared. Mickey tried to argue his point again, but before he could begin Jack was already striding towards Matt and Ivy. "Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness and this Mickey Smith. Welcome to Torchwood," he said happily, bestowing a big smile upon them as he tried to be friendly.

"Hi, I'm Ivy Regalson," said Ivy slightly tersely as she attempted to sound more mature, and offering a firm handshake to Jack and Mickey.

"I'm Matt Thomas. People just call me Matt," he said, though stumbling a bit when he had difficulty pulling his hands out of his pockets. The Doctor suspected there were still some stolen candy bars in there. He tried to make a mental note to keep an eye out for Matt when he suddenly realised something.

"You didn't even try to flirt then," he said suddenly and completely disregarding discrecy.

"They're kids and I'm over a hundred. I'm not Michael Douglas," said Jack, his eyebrows raised. Ivy and Matt looked alarmed.

"Who's Michael Douglas?" asked he Doctor, looking taken aback at his lack of knowledge in what he guessed was pop culture reference.

"It doesn't matter. On a lot of levels," replied Mickey.

There was a pause as the mood lightened slightly with everyone sharing a silent cheery smile, most of which was emanating from the Doctor's infectious grinning. But the moment disappeared far too quickly when a loud bang and crackle of thunder boomed from above and beyond them. The Doctor turned from the others and looked up curiously. A voice calling out to him...

And in that second, that very instant, the Doctor allowed his mind to weaken and wander...linking him into the heart of the vortex. His body immediately stiffened. Something was horribly wrong with the vortex and he could feel it now. All of it. The pain was so intense, so all consuming he could not properly concentrate on closing his mind from it…the pain bit hard down into every inch of his flesh like hot knives...his mind wanted to shriek in anguish…but he had to fight it. The others did not see him struggle, turning his back to them, and there was no need for them to. He could fight it on his own. Travelling by himself taught him that he could.

"Close the door!" shouted all of the Doctors in his mind.

"Can someone tell me what's been going on?" asked Ivy suddenly, her voice coming through and reaching out to him as he shut his mind off from the vortex.

"Yes. Good question. I like good questions," the Doctor answered quickly pretending as though nothing had happened, though slightly out of breath. He felt determined to keep this secret. Jack Harkness looked at him curiously for a brief moment, but when the Doctor simply grinned again he made nothing of it, nor did anyone else. Jack led everyone out of the loading bay and down to the main hall. The Doctor followed from behind slowly as he caught his breath, his head throbbing horribly. The pain that he had experienced, which was so severe he thought that someone must have sliced into the top of his head, began to ebb away though it pulsed achingly.

"Two hours ago the Cardiff Rift in Time and Space started to unexpectedly grow, causing multiple rift storms all over Cardiff, maybe even further," said Jack as he began typing away on a workstation, showing energy readings on the monitor. "We can't really explain it. From our readings, it's supposed to be dormant right now. The Rift isn't just active. It's different. It's erratic. Normally, once in a while, when it becomes active, it just picks up random objects or aliens from throughout time and space and spill it over here and it's our job to come in and do whatever we need to do."

"But it's not normal right now?" asked Ivy quickly.

"No. Something's antagonized the rift," added Mickey as he pointed to the green 3D image of the Rift on the monitor, that pulsed and grew every few seconds.

"Causing it to expand," said Jack.

"Causing loads of aliens to be sucked up and dumped over here," joined in Matt, trying to be helpful.

"Is it still expanding?" asked The Doctor worriedly, still pretending to be fine though the pain for the most part had subsided.

"We could be overrun by aliens," mumbled Ivy as she shook slightly.

"No. It's stopped. It's only just stopped growing and flat-lined but the readings don't make any sense. The Rift isn't getting bigger. It's even stopped picking up aliens. But it's still active. It's still antagonized. The rift energy is still brewing inside it..." said Jack. The Doctor and Jack began thinking silently, though everyone could practically hear their brains whirring beside them. Jack sat down and swivelled in the chair, occasionally glancing at the readings and at the Doctor, secretly trying to figure it out before the Doctor did. Unfortunately he already did.

"...and the energy's got nowhere to go but in on itself. That's why it's so cold...the rift's beginning to consume itself inside out..." explained the Doctor as he circled around the workstation. He drummed his fingers on the monitor, thinking deeply. He knew there was a lot more to this than he could see at the moment. It didn't fully explain, why the vortex screamed out for him, why it had felt like something killing…tearing…lacerating at the heart of the vortex...

"But Doctor, if that's really the case...that energy still has to go come out somewhere and somehow," said Jack quietly.

"That means it'll explode!" screamed Ivy immediately.

"Like a Mentos trapped in a bottle of coke," added Matt, unable to suppress his urge to help on a topic he knew nothing about.

"Exactly!" exclaimed the Doctor loudly, before hesitating a moment. "Well, sort of, I guess. But with less the coke or the Mentos and more outer space and time energy"

"Wow. Time energy," Ivy repeated curiously.

"What's it called? When-ergy? Get it? Whenergy," added Matt, laughing at his joke, before it trailed off into an awkward silence. None of the others found it remotely funny, except for the Doctor who was chortling slightly and smiling.

"I like that...whenergy. Very catchy," he said looking at Jack and Mickey enquiringly. He wanted them to admit that they were wrong about Ivy and Matt.

"Oh alright," replied Jack to the Doctor's enquiring face. "They're quite good," he admitted with a hint of being impressed.

"I know. I only pick up the good. Well most of the time anyways," said the Doctor and looked at Mickey quickly.

"Oi!" shouted Mickey, laughing as he did.

"Oh don't worry, you were good. Speaking of which, where's Martha and everyone else?" asked the Doctor, as he began thinking of his former companions around him.

"They were in Splott with UNIT. Should be back any minute now," answered Jack authoritatively. The Doctor could feel how much he cared for his team and it showed how he had grown from the first time they met so many years ago. Though it was more for Jack since he had to live out a few centuries on the slow path.

"I'll go find out what's keeping them," said Mickey automatically and hurried out of the main hall. Mickey too had grown more mature than his ninth incarnation could ever have predicted or anyone else for that matter. Years in the parallel world, caring for family and old friends, fighting for the planet in Torchwood. Mickey Smith had become a fine young man.

"Hey, guys, shouldn't we be trying to stop the exploding time and space rift in the sky and stuff?" asked Ivy sternly, clapping her hands to get their attention, "A bit less chit chat, a bit more saving the world please!"

"Oh, yeah that's right" said the Doctor quickly as he snapped out of his reminiscence. He turned to Jack, who caught his eye. They both knew what they needed to do and how. It involved something large, wooden and blue.

"The Rift Manipulator's down. It'll take days to repair. Any ideas?" asked Jack.

"Well...TARDIS?" asked the Doctor coyly, with a glint of playfulness in his eyes.

"TARDIS," repeated Jack, unable to suppress a huge grin.

"TARDIS," added Matt, as everyone stared at him. "What's a TARDIS?"


	5. Chapter 5 : Heart and Soul of The TARDIS

**Chapter Five: Heart and Soul of the TARDIS**

"Tadaa! This is the TARDIS. My spaceship," announced the Doctor delightedly as the arrived down what seemed to be another secret loading bay in the Hub. In the corner of it, stood a tall wooden box - The TARDIS. The Doctor stood proudly beside it and beamed delightedly at both Ivy and Matt.

"This is your spaceship?" asked Matt, looking bewildered.

"Oi! It's the best spaceship in all the universes."

"Yeah but it looks -"

"Oi! It looks wonderful. I like how it looks. It looks brilliant," said the Doctor, who was looking slightly bad-tempered now. He never enjoyed it whenever anyone made fun of his TARDIS. He stretched out his hands, stroking his most prized possession, slowly and deliberately. Jack, Ivy and Matt looked on both avidly and bemused, as if waiting for the Doctor to do something stranger.

"Why does it look like that? What's a Police Box anyways?" asked Ivy, moving closer to the supposedly alien spaceship, wanting to touch it but wondering if she was allowed to or not.

"Why does everyone have to ask me that?" asked the Doctor rather loudly, as if she had rudely interrupted him. "What are they teaching kids in school these days? It's a disguise for when I was here in the 60s. They had police boxes everywhere. Except the chameleon circuit got stuck and it stayed like this ever since. I like it though."

"What's it called again?" asked Matt, who leaned in closer to the TARDIS doors as if to inspect it.

"TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. Stands for Time and Relative Dimensions In-"

"Shed," interrupted Matt, as he knocked on the wooden door several times.

"Space!"

"Are you sure?" asked Ivy, peering around the corners of the TARDIS, looking for anything remotely alien on it. There wasn't much except for a strange symbol on the lid of the keyhole, so she guessed the Doctor's explanation of its appearance as a disguise to be true. She thought it looked completely plain bordering on the strange and maybe even dowdy.

"Yes!" hissed the Doctor through gritted teeth, as he plunged his hands into his coat pocket and extracted a piece of string. He pulled it for a surprising long time until he got to the other end of it and drew out the TARDIS key.

"I really like these kids, Doctor," chortled Jack Harkness from behind him, "They're half as cheeky as you are."

"Oi! Just get in," said the Doctor as he opened the TARDIS doors. He hesitated for a moment as he remembered from whom he picked up his previous choice of words, and how young his new companions were, but steeled himself like he had done so many times before.

"It's a little small--oh, that is neat," said Ivy in awe as she saw the inside of the TARDIS.

"Mickey! I'll be inside the TARDIS if you need me. And that's a statement not an invitation this time," announced Jack just before he entered.

"For the hundredth time I told you I didn't know you were in the shower!" cried out Mickey from somewhere inside the Hub, his embarrassing scream echoing back to himself.

* * *

Ivy and Matt could never have imagined such a strange and splendid place. Their mouths fell open. It was bigger on the inside, the expansive angular walls wrapped around magically. The inside was beautifully lit by hundreds of lights on the walls, that resembled a strange sort of roundel and in the centre stood a strange moving column, filled with more glittering green light, that rose up and down majestically on its hexagonal pedestal of what looked to be buttons and levers and other peculiar looking objects. Wires seemed to run through in every single direction, though all seemed to stem from the ceiling, connecting to the piston-like central column and down under the floor through holes at the feet of what looked like seats. Both Ivy and Matt continued to gawk slightly awkwardly at the entrance, holding on to the railings for support. Their legs seemingly decided to turn to jelly after entering the TARDIS.

"Does everyone do that?" asked Jack as he joined the Doctor at the TARDIS's console.

"Pretty much," he replied delicately, as he began depressing buttons, twiddling keys, and pulling levers of all sorts. "Mostly the humans."

"Don't you get tired of it?" said Jack, as he helped with the controls as well.

The Doctor paused slightly, trying to accurately answer the question. "Of course not," he said, as they both laughed.

The Doctor loved it. Every time. Without a companion the TARDIS was the loneliest place in the world. Without a companion, the TARDIS would be decrepit lifeless old jalopy. Engulfed in its own infinite world, consuming itself like quicksand with space that would have dwarfed even the home planet of the Time Lords. Without a companion, the TARDIS didn't truly have a heart. But with the right people in it, even if it was just one solitary blonde girl from South London who worked in Henrik's Department Store, or a student doctor from the Royal Hope Hospital, or maybe even a noisy, stubborn, fiercely determined temp from Chiswick... The TARDIS could be the life and soul of the entire universe. It just needed a heart. It just needed someone.

"It's amazing," said Ivy slowly, "it's wonderful, it's brilliant, it's fantastic, it's bigger on the inside, it's alien! I can't believe it. It's unbelievable."

"I told you"

"How does it work?"

"You know, I love answering questions but sometimes, some things should never be revealed," said the Doctor. "It's called the TARDIS. Travels through time and space. Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside which is strangely a 1960s big blue police box. It's also got several floors worth of libraries, a swimming pool, a zoo and one the galaxies most comfortable toilet seats ever made."

"Don't tell me, it's called the TURDIS," said Matt wryly.

"Aww you stole my joke. He stole me joke. Don't steal my joke. I haven't got many jokes. I like my jokes. Running out of jokes. Don't steal any of my jokes," jabbered the Doctor rapidly.

The Doctor returned to his manic toggling of controls on the console, with what seemed to be no real logic but with a real spring in his step and beaming a full wide smile that he couldn't hide. It was quite a while since he allowed anyone in the TARDIS. He wanted to, so many times, but he hadn't been ready. He had hurt people by letting them into his life. More importantly, he had hurt himself as well.

But now he felt perhaps, he could. Returning to Cardiff wasn't just another pit stop in his journey. The Doctor came back secretly to see his former companions...though he wasn't sure what his true intentions were. It was simply that he needed to see them. A great urge to see them. Perhaps, he thought, he needed to apologise for what they've had to endure with him in their lives or possibly that he needed the company to fill the emptiness he had felt since the War, now more pronounced with the loss of another dear friend. He could never be certain. But seeing Jack, Mickey and Martha helped him. Seeing just how they've matured, seeing them happy...

And now Matt and Ivy had entered his life. There was so much he wanted to show and so much he wanted to teach them. They were simply wonderful. Brimming with questions, energy and daring, exactly like him. Though niggling at the back of his mind, was that he felt, they were more like him than just that. Just like him, they too no longer had any family...The Doctor felt a lump in his throat, as he glanced at the two orphans, before quickly turning back to the controls.

"Jack, reload the hyper scratch matrix and sync it to the TARDIS's energy flow," instructed the Doctor slowly, "that way we'll be able to get into the Rift's core...from here!" He then punched down a button with the use of his entire fist, watching the TARDIS monitors for any signs of change. After a brief pause which had the Doctor slightly worried, the screen flashed to show great glowing blue bars gradually increasing in vertical height.

"And you'll be able to control the Rift?" asked Jack, sounding highly impressed, and dashing around the console to look at the monitors as well.

"Well I'll be able to stop it exploding probably," said the Doctor pointing to various numbers that flashed on the screen. "Pouring all the rift whenergy...I mean energy, straight into the TARDIS. Should be able to keep it going for several centuries and won't need to fill her up again probably for a couple of centuries." He said this all rather quickly, making various strange faces as he went along.

"Aww but I'll miss you. Won't you come and visit?" asked Jack in a mock concerned voice.

"You haven't even bought me coffee yet," replied the Doctor coolly.

* * *

Ivy and Matt, edged slowly away from the console of the TARDIS where the Doctor and Jack seemed to be busy and stood in the entrance of the next room, which appeared mostly to be a bridge or hallway of sorts, from which spread out even more corridors and bridges to other rooms. It looked rather a difficult place to roam around in. Essentially it looked simply like a maze of complicated stairwells and bridges connected all the rooms to one another from this control room.

"This is far too cool," whispered Matt to Ivy, taking a deep, calming breath as he looked around.

"An alien spaceship," began Ivy, looking profoundly amazed, "that can travel through time as well." She slowly turned to face Matt, who was struggling for a moment to keep in his glee and delight.

"Yatta!" they exclaimed together in unison. They hadn't seen Season 2 of Heroes onwards where this phrase wasn't as cute.

"This is the best field trip ever," he said. "Who knew aliens visited Cardiff? We should come here more often."

"I don't want this to end," said Ivy firmly.

"We don't have to," whispered Matt, stealing a glance at the Doctor, then jerking his head to point at him "come on, we can just stay with him."

"I mean," he murmured, and pressed on as Ivy began to argue "come on. We can handle aliens, no problem. Besides, we've got time travel so nobody will know we were gone."

"Yeah but...do you think the Doctor will let us? We're still just kids-"

"Ivy, look at him! He's a total geek. We can take him. It's the best chance we've got from getting away from the orphanage. I thought that's what you always wanted to do. To explore, to adventure and to have a bit of fun. "

"Alright," muttered Ivy, after some quiet deliberation. "We're going to stay with the Doctor. Not taking no for an answer. Agreed?"

"Agreed!"

* * *

"Feeding in the proton stutter fields Doctor," shouted Jack, as he struggled to delicately adjust the proton manipulator keys. "Don't let any of it spill out into Cardiff!"

"Opening up the engines!" screamed the Doctor louder, both hands busy on more buttons than he had fingers. Then suddenly, the console of the TARDIS, burst into a wide array of colourful lights, reaching out rapidly from the insides and emanating a wonderful glow of energy. The Doctor jumped for joy and tapped the console affectionately. "Oh yes. Good girl. Suck it all in."

"I've always wanted you to say that," whispered Jack to himself.

"Oh hang on," breathed the Doctor worriedly as he stared at the monitor. "That's a bit weird."

"What is?" Jack asked him, shuffling forwards to share the monitor, as it large red dots began flashing ominously.

"There, look," pointed the Doctor as he peered at the monitor solemnly, and then up at Jack. "Ion efflux in the Rift"

"That's normal isn't it?" Jack said reassuringly. "The Vortex and the Rift are practically joined at the hip"

"Yeah but," began the Doctor, becoming increasingly worried, his thoughts firmly on the vortex. "Only a TARDIS would leave ion trails in the Vortex when it materialises. That or a really large spaceship left it there because I haven't been near the Rift before today." The Doctor became tense, and for a quiet moment his eyes flashed, as the flames of the vortex danced into life, its reflection wavered against his glasses. Swirling veins of energy spreading and bursting in his mind. The vortex had awoken, aware of the Doctor's presence it began ticking, beating and pulsing in his brain and screaming, wailing, crying in his ears.

"You haven't had any large ships come by lately have you?" asked the Doctor quickly, shutting the doors again.

Jack raised an eyebrow to high heaven.

"You're kidding right?" he asked, chuckling as he did, but the Doctor simply stared at him blankly. "Ooh my common sense is tingling. Big giant spaceship? Visiting Earth recently? No wait, don't tell me! Could it be the Crucible?"

"Oh yeah," exclaimed the Doctor finally realising. "Time travel. Messes with the head."

Earth had been attracting far too many super spacecrafts in the last couple of years and very few had friendly visitors aboard them. The Doctor cast his mind back to count them all. Daleks, Sontarans, Sycorax, the Titanic, the Adipose First Family and the Slitheen cruiser were the only one's big enough to produce trails of ion efflux in the vortex. Though a nagging suspicion persisted that probably most of the crafts didn't run on high ion energy engines, with the possible exception of the Slitheen cruiser whose engine parts he suspected would have been directly off the black market. That or it was from all their farting. The Doctor flinched, made a face and shivered to the core at the mere thought. He could still remember the acrid foul smell and taste in his mouth. Not very pleasant at all.

"Doctor, are you ok?" asked Jack, dropping his voice and staring at him.

He didn't know where to begin, but it did not matter. At that moment, the door of the TARDIS sprang open, and the head of Mickey Smith came through the gap. His face looked drained, empty and his eyes wide with shock. Every head in the TARDIS turned and froze. Then Mickey spoke.

"Doctor, we need you out here. There's a," his eyes turned to Matt and Ivy briefly as he paused, before delicately continuing, "problem."

Everything seemed fuzzy and slow at first. Then the Doctor and Jack jumped and dashed out in a hurry. Ivy seized Matt's hand protectively, but were only just realising that something strange had happened; their heads till turning from where Mickey stood in the door to each other and back to the door before they ran to catch up with the others. A dark silence spread out as everyone made to their way to the exit. Not even the TARDIS seemed to hum.

As they made their way out, the Doctor glimpsed the back of Martha Jones and Gwen Cooper slowly and carefully wheeling along a gurney. A body covered in a white sheet lay in it and he understood why Mickey had hesitated. Instinctively, the Doctor sidled across furtively, blocking the view of Matt and Ivy as the came out of the TARDIS. Upon seeing this, Mickey quickly squeezed past the dark large SUV, which hadn't been there before they entered the TARDIS, and helped to quickly push the body out of sight.

"Oh hello," gasped Ianto Jones, who had just come out the SUV. He looked visibly shaken and confused. Dirt, dust and tears were visible on his dark suit. A result of a bad fall on hard concrete ground, the Doctor suspected.

"I didn't expect that," he said, pointing at Matt and Ivy. "Those. This. Them."

"Me neither. Matt and Ivy. They're with me," The Doctor told him hastily. "So what's the problem?"

Ianto hesitated, glancing at Matt, Ivy and Jack quickly. When nobody said anything he continued, though he dropped his voice significantly.

"We found, or rather, we have, a body."

The Doctor's frown deepened. A brief prickly silence hung in the air, as the adults met each other's eyes, wondering if it would be more prudent to talk about this a bit more privately. Though fear bubbled in his stomach, the Doctor urged Ianto to continue.

"Male. Humanoid. He came from the biggest rift storm today, all the way out in Splott. He was alive when we found him but then it seemed like he couldn't breathe. He was clutching his chest in pain. Couldn't speak. Couldn't really do anything else from the look of it," informed Ianto gravely.

"Cardiac arrest?" asked Jack, a curious expression on his face.

"We tried to do what we could but according to Martha," Ianto said almost whispering," both his hearts failed."


	6. Chapter 6 : One Heart Two Many

**Chapter Six: One Heart Two Many**

"What?" exclaimed the Doctor, a look of complete shock flashed on his face as he streaked past Ianto Jones.

Matt and Ivy attempted to follow suit, but before they could even take a step forward, Captain Jack had grabbed hold of the back of their jackets.

"Hey let us go," yelled Matt as he struggled to get free of Jack but he maintained his tight grip. "We're with The Doctor."

"No!" barked Jack louder and Matt and Ivy fell silent and stopped resisting. Though fear lapped at him at the thought of what Ianto had just said, Jack's experience helped him to stay calm. They needed to take each step one at a time and the first involved keeping these two away from the body. "The autopsy room is no place for you two. Stay out of this."

He released his grip on them and placed his hands on their shoulders. He knew he needed to explain. "This is why we don't allow kids in the Hub. We have to deal with things that not even a normal person can handle. It's too dangerous."

"But maybe we can help or-"

"No," said Jack firmly. "In this world, this alien world, many people die. It's not all fun and games. Not every alien you meet is going to be nice like me or the Doctor. Personally, I don't think you're ready for this."

Ivy did not speak but nodded. Matt simply stared at his feet, his hands rustling uncomfortably in his jacket pockets that clinked and jingled slightly. They knew when they lost an argument to an adult.

"Ianto," said Jack finally, "take care of them and don't let them near the autopsy room."

The Doctor ran through the corridor, his hearts beating furiously. His mind was in freefall, spinning madly out of control, unable to grasp at the impossibility that had been laid out before him. The voice of the Vortex beginning to get through, haunting him yet again. What did it all mean? The Doctor knew something deeper must be going on. Nothing that happened today could have been a coincidence.

Ion efflux in the vortex that only a TARDIS could leave behind? A man with two hearts that had fallen through the Rift? And how did the Doctor's psychic awareness to the Vortex become stronger? And why was it calling out to him? All of the clues screamed out to him but he couldn't understand it. There was no other Time Lord in existence anymore so what did it all mean? It was impossible. None of it made sense. The Time Lords burned. All of them. He remembered their faces. But he knew, his first step in solving this grim and sinister puzzle was lying in the autopsy room.

"Is that him?" asked the Doctor guardedly, as he sprinted down the staircase. He stared at the body, whose top half was no longer concealed under a white sheet. The man was fair-haired, tall, and thin and looked very old judging from his long beard. He was unfamiliar to the Doctor.

"Do you know him?" asked Martha apprehensively, staring at his grim expression. She remembered the last time she found another Time Lord.

The Doctor kept quiet and moved closer to the body to exam it closely as Jack Harkness entered the autopsy room silently. His serious expression was shared with everyone else as the Doctor still examined the body in complete silence, pressing his glasses closer to his face. Then he looked up and slowly shook his head.

"He could have regenerated, like you did," said Mickey immediately.

"No," the Doctor replied gravely, his eyes still on the body. "I'd still know. Time Lords have a telepathic sense to help us identify one another so we'll always be able to recognise who's who after regenerations."

"Would you be able to sense it even if he's dead?" asked Gwen.

"Yes. During wars," said the Doctor slowly, "we pick bodies of Time Lords from battlefields to be sent back to Gallifrey. They also smell differently."

Images of friends and family, sprawled on a red alien ground next to burning debris of Dalek casings and War TARDISes sprang to his mind. Young men and women clutching each other, their screams silent, as the black sky rained fire, lightning and dead bodies.

"For a proper funeral?" asked Jack carefully.

"If you were lucky..." muttered the Doctor.

"Let's not get carried away here," said Jack reassuringly. "We can't be certain if he is or isn't a Time Lord. I mean, they couldn't have been the only species in the universe to have two hearts."

"But they are," said the Doctor stiffly, gritting his teeth. His composure slipping. He could not seem to be able to marshal his thoughts. A wealth of emotion flooded him.

"They were."

"Maybe I was wrong," interjected Martha. "But I don't think so. This makes this really bad. We need to find out what this person is immediately."

"That's why we're in here right?" said the Doctor gravely, turning his head staring at the various scalpels that Martha brought out.

* * *

There was a strange atmosphere in the main hall where Matt, Ivy and Ianto Jones were seated together in a circle on squeaking swivelling chairs, barely hearing the conversation going on in the autopsy room below. Nobody spoke and the awkward silence was almost deafening. It was clear Ianto Jones was not very good with teenagers, nor were teenagers very good with Ianto Jones.

"So, how long have you been travelling with the Doctor?" said Ianto, finally. It was awkward and stupid but it was the only words that seemed to form in his mind to say to them.

"A few hours," said Matt still trying to sound impressive. "Yeah, there was this scary alien in the museum but we fought it off pretty easy. What was it called?"

"A Hoix," replied Ivy, flipping her annoying light brown hair out of her face again.

"Ooh," said Ianto cringing, though inside he was relieved the awkward silence broke. He tried to prolong the conversation further the best he could. "Nasty piece of work Hoixes. How did you bring it down?"

"Oh. It was nothing," claimed Matt, stretching his arms and cracking his knuckles, in nonchalance. "We gave it a proper smack down."

"What he meant to say was, the Doctor saved us," grinned Ivy, as he corrected him. "He used some gas pills or something and knocked it out."

"Ah. Paralysis capsules," added Ianto, tapping the arm of his seat. "Martha invented those. She used to travel with the Doctor. Mickey and Jack too."

"Really?" asked Ivy interestedly. "Wow, that's pretty cool."

"Yeah," said Ianto lamely, attempting to maintain his smile. "Yeah..."

The awkward silence returned as Ianto struggled to find another way to keep the conversation going. He wondered what kids these days were doing. Being cooped up in the Hub most of the time, he hadn't really had to deal with them. He's fought off Weevils, Daleks, alien sex gas, the Welsh weather and alien rhinoceroses but he'll be damned if he had to deal with kids.

The painful silence drew longer and everyone shifted uneasily in their seats. Matt had taken to staring at his feet, and rummaging around in his pockets whilst Ivy simply stared around the Hub uncomfortably.

Ivy cleared her throat to break the uneasy silence.

"Oh. Sorry. I'll get you something to drink," reacted Ianto immediately jumping to his feet. "Uhm, what would you like?"

"Beer please," chirped Matt optimistically.

Ianto shook his head smiling apologetically.

"Tea?" asked Ivy.

Quickly, Ianto dashed off to the cafeteria. He could still see them from there, as only the bullet proof glass stood between the cafeteria and the main hall. The cafeteria wasn't much. It was essentially made of a round table with not enough chairs, a drawer full of snacks, instant food, unused dusty mugs, hundreds of delivery leaflets from restaurants and fast food places and a coffee machine that strangely only Ianto could work. Jack and Mickey reckoned it was alien. Overall, catering was not one of the greatest aspects of Torchwood, which was why they had fast food delivered to them all the time.

Ianto rummaged around for any snacks but there was none left. Not even a biscuit. He also searched the drawers for tea but that was all gone as well. No sugar. No tea bags. Though, he knew he didn't have any secret stash of tea hiding away somewhere, Ianto continued looking around. He simply wanted to have something to do rather than have another awkward quiet conversation with Ivy and Matt.

However, he did find it odd that almost all of the food was gone and began worrying what to offer to Ivy and Matt. He considered giving them coffee, but perhaps that might be a bit too strong. He then thought perhaps they could simply just have beer but quickly rubbished the idea as firstly that would be illegal and secondly, that would involve going down to the cryo-chambers where the beer was kept meaning he'd be leaving them out of his sight.

"Sorry. We're all out of tea at the moment," said Ianto apologetically.

At that very moment, Gwen Cooper came up the staircases looking slightly fatigued but Ianto leapt at what he saw as a clear opportunity.

"Ah, Gwen. Could you take care of them for me while I go up for a bit? We've run out of tea."

"Yeah sure no problem," said Gwen hesitantly, a bit confused.

"Don't let them near the autopsy room," Ianto added finally before dashing out of the entrance.

"Don't worry. Not going near it anytime soon," she replied back though he was already gone. "Gwen Cooper. Nice to meet you."

"Matt. Ivy. You don't look too good," said Ivy.

"No, I don't," said Gwen, her looking ill and drained. "I'm fine with bodies, but not a big fan of when they cut open their chests to be honest."

"Whoa. Awesome!"

"Sit down Matt."

* * *

"Definitely two hearts Doctor," muttered Mickey grimly, trying to break the dark heavy tension that filled the atmosphere. Nobody spoke or moved a muscle. They were simply stunned and bewildered at the revelation. Except for the Doctor, who pushed his glasses closer to his face, and peered into the body with concentration. Everyone else simply watched. They weren't sure how to react anymore. Another Time Lord had been found.

"Two hearts alright," said the Doctor finally addressing everyone "but in the wrong place."

"What?" exclaimed Martha, scrambling closer for a look to where the Doctor was pointing. Jack and Mickey turned to each other, a heavy expression their faces. They weren't sure this new revelation was better or worse but they were guessing it was worse. Things usually worked that way in Torchwood.

"He's not a Time Lord. I don't know what he is but he's not a Time Lord. Very close to a Time Lord but not enough. Very, very, very close. But not Time Lord. Not a hundred percent anyways." The Doctor's eyes were ablaze and a stirring anger from within surfaced as he stared at the body silently before he spoke again seething through gritted teeth. "The hearts, the muscles, the veins, the organs, the skeleton. It's not Time Lord. It's human. He's a human being."

"But how did he get two hearts? Mutation? Caused by the Rift?" asked Jack carefully.

"No. They used the morphic field to mutate them. Manipulated it to do this," replied the Doctor, the anger boiling inside of him surfacing, "Someone's been experimenting on humans! Someone's been trying to make Time Lords out of humans!"

"Oh my god," shrieked Martha taken aback, staring from the Doctor to the body momentarily as her heart dropped, "Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know, but I swear I'm going to end it!"

Then, without any warning, a mighty explosion rocked the Hub. The blast caught everyone by surprise, the powerful force knocking them off their feet and slamming them straight onto the cold hard floor.

Dark and dense smoke billowed out of the main hall. Alarms blared their loud sirens and flashed their bright lights as the Doctor scrambled to his feet, adrenalin already spreading throughout his entire body; he then bolted straight up to the main hall. Everything else in his mind disappeared instantly. It was now firmly on two things: Ivy and Matt.

* * *

"Ooh fancy," said a jubilant faint voice from behind the thick clouds of dust and debris. A panic stricken Matt could barely see the intruder as blood dripped from his stinging forehead, even though Gwen had vaulted on top of him and Ivy to protect them, pulling them under the safety of a workstation as several more chunks of the Hub's ceiling thundered down to the floor.

Dust and smoke choked Matt as he tried to breathe and his eyes watered from the heat of the explosion. He was unable to see anything though he could feel Ivy's familiar hand gripping his, and Gwen towering over, holding and shielding them in her arms, refusing to let go.

"I like what you've done with the place," said the intruder, addressing someone casually," no shop though. I'd have a little shop right there if I were you."

The dust was settling, and Matt could almost see him. So could Gwen. Her face was contorted with rage as she finally loosened her grip on him and Ivy, reaching underneath her jacket for her gun.

Immediately, Ivy grabbed hold of Matt and pulled him into a protective hold putting herself between him and the attacker. Matt could see her eyes were welling up with tears. Just when he thought he was safe, his heart was racing madly again for the second time today as he heard the heavy footfalls of the intruder approaching closer.

"Where is everyone though? No reception?"

"The reception's right here," shouted Gwen as she jumped up from underneath the workstation, armed and prepared to kill. The smoke and dust was finally settling as she took aim at the intruder's distorted silhouette. Once she saw him, she was going to pull the trigger, whoever or whatever it was.

"Oh really," said the voice, turning suddenly vicious in tone, "I thought he was the receptionist." The dust cleared, revealing clearly Ianto with his hands high in the air, a gun pointed at the back of his skull by a heavily armed peculiar looking man.

"Really! Services in this country's gone to pot. Pointing a gun at me."

"Who are you?" barked Gwen angrily, hesitantly taking aim at the intruder. She knew she couldn't shoot with Ianto still in front of her still being a human shield, but she had a good shot on her. Plus, she and Ianto were Torchwood members. If it really came down to it, they knew what they had to do when fighting against alien threat; anything possible. Only the most dangerous of opponents were able to force their way into the Hub.

"I'm Wade Watson also very widely, broadly, length-wisely known as The Mercenary," said the intruder happily and waving the gun in his hand airily about, "though I'd really rather you not point that gun at me or this will get quite unnecessarily messy. Torchwood. You have some things that I want. But besides sex, I'd like you to go get the Doctor for me."

A flurry of movement interrupted him as the Doctor rushed into the main hall followed by everyone else, shock and panic on their faces. The room was full of fear, and silence fell abruptly and completely as the Doctor stared down the Mercenary for the shortest of moments, before running straight to Matt and Ivy.

The Mercenary did nothing but watch him quietly and intently. His eyes widened and seemed to bulge seeing his prey again. He ignored the rest of Torchwood. He did not even seem to notice Jack pulling out his pistol and pointing it at his head. They were just tiny distractions in the big plan. He didn't even look away from the Doctor as he pointed his gun back at Ianto, clearing his throat.

The Doctor was ignoring the Mercenary. His first priority was not him. It was Ivy and Matt. How could he be so stupid and thought this was a good idea?

"Are you alright?" he whispered to them.

"Yeah," muttered Matt gravely, noticing the dark expression on his face. "Just a cut on my head."

The Mercenary cleared his throat much louder once more.

"Ivy?" asked The Doctor coolly.

"I'm fine Doctor," she replied quietly, glancing at the Mercenary as he cocked his gun. Jack and Gwen made tense silent movements, their eyes set firm on their target. The others stood frozen as if petrified, and of everyone nobody seemed to breathe but the Doctor and the intruder.

"Oh right. Britain. NHS. I must be way back in the list or something," babbled Wade impatiently, "Hellooo? Is it my turn to see the Doctor yet? I'm here for him and a missing dead guy. I know you have him."

The modicum of calm the Doctor pretended to have vanished instantly at being reminded of the experimented corpse. Ivy and Matt were alright. No more games. His face turned harsh as he finally got up silently and turned to the Mercenary, fixing an intense stare. The Doctor's eyes were now dark and cold, but only fury and rage of a Time Lord burned inside of him. Only one thought was now engulfing the mind of the Doctor.

"Did you experiment on him?"

"What?"

"Did you experiment on him?" hissed the Doctor through gritted teeth. Anger boiling over. "The body. The one that used to be a human being, a person! Before you-"

"Ah, so he's still dead," said Wade simply. His face flashed of disappointment for a moment. Eyes darting left and right on the ground, before he perked up again seemingly as if nothing had happened. "Too bad. Doesn't matter though. My main target really is just you."

The Doctor remained still. He caught the glint of Wade's dangerous eyes. The stab of rage felt like a spike driven through The Doctor's head. Experiments on humans. The pieces of the puzzle did not yet seem to fit. The Doctor couldn't figure it out. He was still struggling to suppress his anger. The very idea of experimenting on humans revolted him. His hands curled into fists were shaking.

"Or else," growled Wade coldly, pressing his gun against Ianto's temple. He then gestured animatedly shooting Ianto's head and made an exploding noise with his mouth. He was enjoying the moment. He was insane with pleasure. The Doctor saw Ianto's brave face, but his eyes betrayed him. In the depths of the dark pair, it was filled with anxiety and fear. The Doctor's mind planned a thousand ways to rescue him as he stared back.

"Nobody's going anywhere," shouted Jack, suddenly taking a step forward. His eyes fixed on his target. He looked beyond rational at the sight of Ianto held hostage. "Let him go!"

"First, the Doctor will come with me," repeated Wade menacingly.

"I told you, nobody's going anywhere! Let him go," barked Jack angrily. "Or else."

"Or else?"

"Myfawny."

"Bless you."

"Myfawny!"

"Jack, no!" cried the Doctor.

Suddenly, with a tremulous scream, the pterodactyl reared in mid-air, her wings spread open to show her full might, and then closed tightly as Myfawny dived from high above. She plummeted like a bullet straight down at Wade with loud foul shrieks then swooped down at him, clawing away with her scaly feet.

"Ianto, get down!" shrieked Gwen as she tried to take aim at Wade.

In the commotion, Ianto broke free of Wade's grip, ducking low to avoid any gun fire. But he was too slow. In one swift, fluid motion Wade leapt aside evading Myfawny's clawing feet, took aim with his pistol and shot Ianto Jones from the back, through his chest. The gun shot could not be heard over Myfawny's cries or seen above her flapping wings and yet everyone knew...

Chaos reigned. Myfawny knocked Wade down, and her claws tore through his face and coat. Wade let out a blood curdling scream, before abandoning his pistol and swinging out his machine gun from behind and shooting indiscriminately above him at the giant beast. Jack and Gwen, in unison, screamed in pain as they let out a flurry of shots at Wade. Every bullet bursting into his bloodied chest.

Martha was at Ianto's side immediately. Her mind was blank as she approached the dying man. She did not know what she felt as she saw his white face, and his hands trying to staunch the bloody wound at his chest. His widening black eyes found her as he tried to speak, then looked up at Jack and Gwen as Mickey joined Martha as his side. A terrible rasping noise issued from his throat, now full of blood that he sputtered out trying to speak.

"I'm so sorry," whispered The Doctor as he too bent over Ianto. Martha cried silently, and Mickey put a comforting arm around her. The Doctor could hear tiny sobs from Ivy and Matt behind him. He turned around and grabbed them both tightly in his arms, comforting them and relieving their shock.

The Doctor remained kneeling and holding them in his arms, until quite suddenly a high, cold dark voice spoke that made him jump to his feet. The Mercenary was still standing. His body and face that was missing an eye from it's' socket was bathed in his own thick blood. Bullet holes clearly visible in him. Jack and Gwen's guns finally emptied. Wade's voice reverberated from the walls and floor loud and clear almost as if his stood beside them, his breath on the back of their necks.

"That," said the cold voice, "was painful. Well duh, but still-"

Wade smiled malignantly, as his eyes lit up and his body glowed, energy radiating from every part of him. The Doctor's widened in fear and shock as golden flames of energy began trickling out from Wade's body and wrapping itself around him. A singularly mirthless smile curled Wade's mouth before it too dissipated into bright golden energy.

"But, that's impossible," whispered The Doctor, his voice full of apprehension.

"Doctor, what's happening?" asked Ivy quietly.

"He's...he's regenerating."


	7. Chapter 7 : The Curious Case of Wade

**Chapter Seven: The Curious Case of Wade Watson**

"Flame on," he said.  
_  
"Hilarious,"_ replied a voice in his head sarcastically before it was drowned out in the blaring tumultuous noise of his regeneration.

The fierce golden white flames enveloped Wade like a magical cocoon of hot energy. Bursts of light shot from his wounds and his agony increased tenfold, but he remained quiescent. He dared not betray his fear. He almost had the Doctor. Soon, it will be over. Just need the Doctor. Soon, it won't hurt anymore. She had promised.

Violent torrents of bio-energy lashed out from every inch of Wade. He could feel his body reconfiguring as muscle and sinew stretched and twisted formless in blood fire. The energy radiated and swelled as he healed. And then he burned. Every bone crumbled turning to white vapour, every ligament in his body alight and every cell glowed gold and he was just bodiless powerful energy.

Then, he was on his knees on the ground again. The smell of the cold Cardiff air filled his nostrils. He could feel the cold hard ground beneath his knees, and the clothes and weapons on his back. Every inch of him ached terribly and the place where once bullets had gone through him felt like the bruises of iron-clad punches. He did not stir but remained exactly where he had fallen.

Everything was strangely silent. Even his breath made no sound. He got up and looked to see everything almost the same as if someone had pressed the pause button whilst he healed. Nobody seemed to know what to say or do. Wade was not used to silence. If he wasn't hearing the sound of gunfire, explosion or pleas of mercy, he was usually met with the voices in his head. There were 2 voices in his head before.

_"Quick, say something," _said a new voice urgent.

"Uhm hello," he said in complete obedience cheerfully, raising a waving hand and smiling.  
_  
"Cool. Now we've definitely got the upper hand,"_ replied another voice confidently with thinly veiled sarcasm.

* * *

The Doctor didn't know what to think. Something that didn't happen very often. However, whenever this happened, it usually wasn't because of a perfectly harmless and safe reason. Most of the time it would be because of something catastrophically dangerous and threatening. This was one of those times. Obviously.

Wade Watson had just done something impossible. Something The Doctor knew could not be real. Wade had just... so it seemed. Violent gold flaming bio-energy had discharged from every inch of him. Precisely how you would regenerate into a new person and body if you were a Time Lord. But Wade Watson's appearance remained the same. The same exact features he had before remained prominent and defiant. Every feature was the same. Those crazed dark eyes, the malevolent thin-lipped sneering mouth, the sallow skin and thin pointed dagger-like nose. Nothing changed. Bullets could not harm him. But not everyone was that lucky.

"Ianto, no, don't," cried Jack angrily, punctuating the silence as he bent over cradling Ianto's head in his arms soaked in blood. Ianto whimpered softly as he breathed. His lips trembled with the effort to form words.

"Jack..."

The Doctor slowly bent down, unsure if the Mercenary would allow him to do so. But he merely watched and made no movement to stop them. Wade seemed intent merely on observing with delight at their suffering. He allowed them this moment of pain. This moment of grief. This moment that acknowledges his threat to the Doctor. The invisible chess game was being played with the Doctor on the losing end.

"Listen, Ianto, I-I want you to look at me. Don't let go, please don't...I want you to know," Jack muttered his voice constricted. Tears were streaming down everyone's cheeks. But Ianto's painful whimpered breathings had already turn silent and he could no longer hear him.

Martha quietly pressed a hand against Ianto's chest but everyone already knew. Jack stopped crying without his own volition. He no longer seemed to move either.

"I'm so sorry Jack," she said her voice breaking as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Martha felt as though something inside her was falling, falling through the ground, leaving her forever. Tear tracks glittered on her cheeks in the dying flames. "I'm sorry."

Gwen shrieked in agony as she collapsed in tears, pushing away Mickey's attempt to console her as she made her way past him to Ianto's body. She did not want this. She did not want to be consoled. She wanted her excruciating pain to consume her entirely. Not Ianto. Oh god, not Ianto. Everyone she knew and loved at Torchwood seemed to be taken away from her slowly. She couldn't lose another. She simply couldn't.

Ivy held Matt as they quietly sobbed together before the Doctor reached out an arm to wrap around them. His insides clenched like a fist. He was so sorry they had to see this. He was wrong. They were too young.

The suddenness and completeness of death was with them like a presence. It was like sinking into an old nightmare. Every time he travelled with a companion, it seemed he only lets them suffer...

He hurts them...

And it hurts him. It haunts him. The pain is with him in his nightmares where it reigns unchallenged.

"He's dead, he's dead," whispered Jack silently to himself as he stared into Ianto's glittering empty eyes.

Then Wade moved. His silver shinning pistol returned in his hand as he pointed it towards the huddled group.

"This is all very touching and stuff, but I haven't actually killed him," said Wade flatly.

His hands then became a blur as he took aim at Ianto again and pulled the trigger. Nobody reacted. Nobody could. He was blindingly fast. Then, electric blue light surged from within the barrel of pistol and an unearthly bright glow blasted from its tip and the everyone gasped in horror as the insides of Ianto's body which were laid to bare began to crawl and writhe unpleasantly.

"No! What are you doing?" shouted Martha as she scrambled towards the body when Ianto Jones suddenly screamed into agonizing life.

"Quantum-tipped," smirked Wade at his work.

Ianto Jones was alive again and the exit wound in his chest that was there a moment ago was no longer there. However he was still not completely unharmed. The entrance wound was still visible. It was as if Wade had reversed time in Ianto's chest but to until the bullet had entered him but not yet exited.

"A time bullet," announced The Doctor suddenly to the others.

"Correctamundo. Oh I like that word. Correctamundo, correctamundo. Remind me to use that word more often," Wade spoke eagerly to himself, an eerie shadow of the Doctor.

"Time bullets are very very very rare. You have to be delve deep into the black market for those. Only the best bounty hunters, mercenaries and even some space pirates can get hold of them. They're almost legendary. I've only ever met one other person that's ever used a time bullet and that was still a very long time ago. I was a different man back then. But I'm so old now. I'm not as merciful now," The Doctor was nearly growling at the man by now and with a flash of fire in his eyes, he spat,

"So, who are you? "

"I'm you, Doctor... Nah just kidding. Shoulda seen your face. No don't worry; you have better hair next time but poor eyebrows. Should fix that if you can." The Mercenary remained undaunted by the Time Lord in front of him, grinning in an almost stupid fashion. Maybe it was just wishful thinking to assume that he had no brains, however.

"You're not a Time Lord," The Doctor retaliated, his face blank.

"Nope," Wade replied simply.

"But that looked like a regeneration," interrupted Jack.

"Cool huh?" Wade looked over at Jack and grinned again.

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked again, his brain working frantically to solve this puzzle. He was nearly there...

"I don't know. I can't remember. The voices tell me what I need to know. My preciousss..."

Wade's eyes mocked the Doctor, as if encouraged by how enraged the Time Lord was becoming.

"Tell me who you are!" The Doctor shouted at him, losing his temper.

"I'm Wade Watson and I hold the world record for stuffing the most ice cubes up a squirrel; One," Wade's face became serious to compensate for his outrageous statement as if he had just proclaimed that he had won an honoured award.

"Ok, if you're not going to answer that seriously, tell me this. Who are you working for? Because tampering with the morphic field, tapping into the vortex, and triggering the rift...that sort of technology...You're working for someone else," The Doctor concluded, his temper lessened again. The first piece of the puzzle put in place and solved.

Wade looked like a fish out of water, with his mouth open and no sound emerging. Suddenly, he closed his mouth and shrugged as though he could care less whether the Doctor had figured him out.

"Like I said. Only the most feared bounty hunters and mercenaries use time bullets and space scum like you never work for yourselves. Someone sent you here. Sent you here to find me and I want to know who and why." The Doctor had his neutral face back on and the entire group was watching the exchange avidly as Ianto's life was still in the hands of the lunatic in front of them.

"My master was right about you...You do talk too much and you're an insufferable know it all," Wade put his hands on his hips, still holding the gun. The Mercenary appraised the Doctor with a smirk and shook his head.

"Master?" The Doctor pressed.

"But as you said it yourself, only the best have time bullets and I'm one of the best and I'd like to finish this job," snarled Wade dangerously.

"Come with me Doctor, or the pretty secretary boy dies, again and nobody wants that," Wade put on his most serious expression to express the importance of his statement, "Seriously. People will write online petitions and insult the writers and jump on bandwagons they know nothing about and all that stuff when he does stuff it so please, if you would just come with me. Right. Now."

Wade took his gun and pointed it back at the newly-alive-again Ianto, who groaned in pain as he tried to move.

"Who is your master?" The Doctor asked once more, voice raised once again. It was urgent. He had to know. Could it be...

"Oh dear, I think I might be losing control of the time bullet..." Wade frowned with all the sincerity of genuine fake leather, then smiled malignantly.

"Tell me! Who did this?" The Doctor's rage was rising and he was getting more desperate. Who would manipulate bodies to try and make Time Lords? Who would aid this frankly insane mercenary with his regeneration trick? Who would supply him with time bullets? It made no sense!

"I reversed the time bullet once, I won't be able to do it again," Wade promised darkly, his voices cheering him on to kill the boy already and take the Doctor. He was a Time Lord, so shooting him won't necessarily kill him.

The Doctor looked from Wade to Ianto, lying on the floor yet, still in pain, to the group watching the scene with wide eyes.

"Doctor!" Martha screamed.

"Stop it! Stop it. I'll go with you," The Doctor said harshly.

Wade put his gun back into his holster.

_"Mission accomplished."_

"Just promise you'll leave them alone," said The Doctor.

"I don't care about them."

* * *

Matt watched as the Doctor moved slowly towards Wade in surrender. He turned to look at the others but they seemed at a loss. Everyone looked consigned to let the Doctor go. That there was no other way. That it was their only choice. And maybe they were right thought Matt quietly. It was too dangerous to stop him.

Wade was armed with a katana on his back, a gun in his holster and his machine gun lying on the floor inches away from his feet. Torchwood on the other hand didn't have anything. They fired all their bullets into Wade just a minute ago and it did nothing. It didn't hurt him one bit. Matt however, had something up his sleeve. Well, more accurately, he had something in his pocket. Time to really impress everyone.

Without a word of warning, Matt leapt up and darted towards the Doctor and Wade, who seemed rooted to the ground at this unexpected sight. Ivy followed suit on complete instinct as Matt knew she would. All at once, they lunged at Wade knocking him clumsily over and Matt pulled from his pockets several paralysis capsules and threw it at the prone form of the Mercenary who received a face full of the gas that exploded out of them.

Wade however was able to lash out at them swinging fisted arms blindly that missed Matt by an inch from his nose but had hit apparently hit the Doctor as he heard Ivy scream his name.

"Ivy!" Matt screamed.

It was difficult to see with the gas billowing everywhere. He could only guess what was happening but it looked as if Mickey and Jack had joined the fight tackling the shadowy figure of the Mercenary. Then suddenly as the gas was clearing, a great big arm wrapped around Matt's neck.

"Nobody move!" growled Wade hoarsely into his ear. And then he felt a sharp pointed object on his left temple.

"This katana was forged by the same guy who made the one on Heroes."

"Let him go!"

"You want him Doctor, come and get him!"

Blue light engulfed Matt and Wade and they were gone.

* * *

"Short-range teleporters! He can't have gotten far. Come on!"

But just as the Doctor said it he heard the deep low rumble of a star fighter's engine starting up.

"He's got a ship!" roared Jack as he stared into the ceiling.

"Come on! We can still get him! TARDIS!" cried the Doctor as he sprinted to his ship then stopped when Ivy ran alongside.

"You're not coming," he said simply. It was out of the question. He couldn't let her.

"He's got Matt!" cried Ivy as she tried to push her way past him. Tears were welling up in her eyes but she forced them not to flow. She shook her head clear and stared straight back at him.

"It's too dangerous!" argued the Doctor, grabbing her arm as she resisted.

"I don't care!" She said simply.

"No! You're staying here where it's safe," said the Doctor trying to make her understand. She was just a kid, and it was insane to put her in this danger.

"He's the only family I've got." She lowered her voice, but the Doctor could hear it was prickling with anger.

"I'm sorry. I really am. We'll get him back, I promise. I'm so-"

"I SAID, I DON'T CARE!"

She couldn't fight back the angry tears any longer.

"HE MAY NOT BE MY REAL BROTHER BUT HE'S AS GOOD AS! HE'S THE ONLY FAMILY I'VE GOT LEFT AND I WON'T LEAVE HIM! I CAN'T LEAVE HIM! I CAN'T! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? I CAN'T LOSE ANY MORE OF MY FAMILY!"

As she yelled, the tears slowly drew lines on her face, but she ignored them. Instead, she stared at the Doctor, daring him to deny her.

The Doctor felt her pain and it was too familiar to him. Rage and resentment fought shock and sympathy; for several moments, the Doctor could not speak.

"I couldn't stop the fire taking my family, I'm not letting anyone take away Matt..."

Ivy felt the same pain that he had felt so many times before. Seeing this young girl in front of him, trying to protect the only person she had left, his resolve broke.

The Doctor didn't know if it was a conscious decision or not, but he nodded. He knew he what he was risking, that he fully acknowledged what might happen, but he knew he might never be able to feel the connection he did now to his newest companions.

"I promised," said the Doctor slowly, "to take care of both of you, but it would be very wrong of me not to warn you that this will be exceedingly dangerous."

"I'm not scared. If there's one thing I'm not feeling, it's fear."

The Doctor's expression did not change. For a moment he simply stared.

"I'll let you come along but under one condition: that you do anything I tell you to at once. Without question. Follow every instruction I give you no matter what. If I tell you to run, you run. As fast as you can. If I tell to hide, you hide. Make sure nobody can ever find you. If I tell you to leave me…"

Ivy nodded. He didn't have to finish his sentence.

"Alright, that goes for anybody else who's coming."

"Me," said Jack shortly as he entered the TARDIS whilst holstering his gun.

"And me," followed Gwen behind him.

The Doctor turned to see Mickey and Martha tending to Ianto.

"Go on," said Martha urgently, "we've got this."

The Doctor understood and closed the TARDIS doors. At once, the air whipped around it and they were gone in a blinding flash of white light.


	8. Chapter 8 : The Dark Side of the Moon

**Chapter Eight: The Dark Side of the Moon**

The TARDIS thundered and roared aggressively as it set off in pursuit. Ivy's hands grabbed vice-like onto the rusty old railings as Gwen caught her by the waist, both dazed and confused with no idea what exactly just happened. But there didn't seem to be much time for anyone to explain anything to them. The Doctor and Jack were darting and leaping madly around the controls like men possessed, shouting and screaming instructions to each other. They were entirely determined to catch up to Matt and his kidnapper.

"Key the flight controls!" screamed the Doctor, his prominent teeth baring angrily as he jumped and kicked the control panel intently with both feet.

"I can't, the thing's going on some automatic! The neural net on this ship's all screwed!" yelled Jack as he struggled with all the buttons and levers he was trying to hold on to with his large muscular hands and fingers.

"Have you tried manual or spatial mapping coordinates?" said the bespectacled Doctor as he hurriedly shuffled around and over Jack who in turn took over the Doctor's controls. Ivy briefly felt like she was watching an absurd merry-go-round dance, and they might as well have been singing alien hymns in German because she had no idea what they were screaming about.

"Don't lose him!"

"I don't plan on it!"

"Damn it, that ship's fast."

"But not faster than mine."

The TARDIS shuddered ferociously as Jack punched in a stubborn button which the ship responded kindly with just as much courtesy. The Doctor may have been confident the TARDIS was fast, but Ivy wasn't. It didn't feel very safe or comfortable –or fast for that matter- as she had imagined it would be. It constantly screeched, jolted and moaned. Was this really a time-travelling spaceship? Ivy wasn't expecting this at all. She expected something less noisy and bumpy before, though she wasn't precisely sure as to why she thought that. Ivy looked to the Doctor for some sign that everything was alright.

"Millennium Falcon," he said eerily without even looking at her as if answering her unspoken question. She really wished she had asked if he was psychic when they were just busy chatting.

"Excuse me?" asked Ivy nervously. She wasn't sure if their relationship was fine again when just minutes ago she had been screaming angrily at him.

"Star Wars," he said looking up from the flashing controls, as if stating something glaringly obvious. "Millennium Falcon? Bumpy and noisy too but with all the modifications and great hyperdrive it was still the fastest ship in the galaxy. Still is in some parts actually-"

"What Mr Smooth-As-A-Rough-Mountain is trying to say is," interrupted Jack sarcastically, though unable to hide a small grin, "we'll get Matt back. Don't worry about it."

"I was about to get to that bit," muttered the Doctor as he continued kicking and pulling a plethora of stubborn levers. Even though Ivy wasn't entirely convinced with the Doctor's flying abilities, she seemed to be able to take his word that they were going to get Matt back.

"How long till we catch up to them?" she queried, as she was tossed back again onto the strange spongey seat of the TARDIS.

"Not sure," the Doctor replied uncertainly, his brown eyes suddenly flashing, "but that ship can't run forever. Besides we know he wants us to follow him. What he really wants is me."

"So right now, we're just tailing him from behind," added Jack helpfully, both hands of his hips. The TARDIS seemed to not rock back and forth as much now.

"We're gonna get him when he lands then?" asked Gwen, her piercing eyes narrowed with dark intent as she folded her hands into her coat. Ivy suspected she was tightening her grip on her gun.

Jack first glanced at the Doctor who intentionally ignored it, staring far too intently at the controls, and then nodded silently at Gwen. Ivy surmised that clearly the prospect of shooting someone was not a subject best discussed openly with the Doctor.

"Say Doctor, didn't you say this thing--the TARDIS was a time machine?" asked Ivy abruptly as a new thought formed in her mind. "Why can't we just travel through time to when and where he's landed and ambush him there?

"No. That's too risky," answered the Doctor aptly as he stowed away his glasses. "Besides, -we- don't know where he's going, so we can't land there before him."

"Obviously," quipped Ivy feeling slightly defeated, brushing aside her light brown hair that had been in her face due to the turbulent ride.

"And secondly," the Doctor continued as he drew breath for his long explanation Ivy suspected he was saving in case anyone asked, "I don't think the TARDIS can travel through the vortex right now. The rift manipulator at the Hub is down so there's no way of knowing what will we happen if we try. Plus, back when we were at the Hub, I found some really nasty ion waste in the vortex that I can't explain for. Meaning someone's been either tampering with the vortex or...I haven't got an or. If we go through the vortex now, we'll be torn to shreds right before the universe explodes."

"Ouch," added Jack immediately.

"Yup," replied the Doctor deadpan.

"So the fate of the entire future and history of reality is in our hands. Again," joined Gwen, putting an arm around her.

"This is intense," breathed Ivy.

"Kinda," grinned the Doctor, shrugging as he fell back sitting on the strange chair.

"Comes with the job I guess," said Jack unperturbed.

"I forgot to read the fine print on the contract," said Gwen seriously to Ivy.

"Hey, it's what we do," smiled Jack.

"You guys don't get paid enough," said Ivy honestly.

"Tell me about it," replied Gwen as everyone slowly started laughing slightly.

"I don't even get dental and I'm determined to keep these teeth."

It was a strange moment they shared. It didn't seem to fit the circumstance. Ivy supposed it was due to the intensity and pressure of what reality had for them in the next few minutes that they turned to humour to deflect their real fears and anxieties from culminating.

Or perhaps it was simply that Ivy had never shared this sense of camaraderie or - dare she think it - family with anyone else besides Matt. It just felt weird to Ivy. Being accepted like that. It was nice, but it was…unfamiliar.

"Can we see where he's going on this monitor or something? Cos I can't understand any of these buttons," asked Ivy gently as the quiet moment of humour died and her fears came bleeding slowly back.

"Yup," answered the Doctor as he made his way to her. "Here we go," he said as he flipped a switch on the control panel and the dark screen flashed, buzzed and shuddered into life.

"Woah," exclaimed Ivy as the flickering image of space flashed onto the screen. "Where are we?"

The dark and deep emptiness of the space unfolded itself in the monitor. The stars were like tiny dots scattered on black canvas. However the majesty of the universe was dulled somewhat by the fact that the monitor had some white noise static. So she wasn't entirely sure which were stars and which weren't.

Then she spotted it. The small spacecraft they were following. It looked almost like a normal Earth fighter jet with it' streamlined shape and wings except the blue glow of streaking engine drives giving it away in the darkness of space.

"Earth. Sort of. He hasn't travelled too far," said the Doctor as he pulled in another monitor across the control panels and it flashed the blue planet on screen. Ivy was instantly fascinated at the powerful sight of it. In the dim and calming planet glow shining down from Earth's blue face, the shape and land mass of continents were barely visible. You could only see the whites and blues of the seas and clouds swirling and drifting peaceful as can be. It was, for she could think of no expression more fitting, completely brilliant.

"Hey, Doctor, he's slowing down," announced Jack seriously.

"He must be landing somewhere," the Doctor said. "Anything on the monitors?"

It took a moment before Ivy realised he was addressing her. Ivy's eyes darted to the first screen where she first spotted the spaceship but it didn't take long for her to see where it was going.

"Looks like he's heading towards that moon."

The Doctor looked at her with surprise written on his face. His eyebrows raised, jaw dropped a bit and eyes widened with disbelief, he went to look at the monitors himself. Ivy thought immediately that perhaps she had said something stupid or she was looking at the wrong thing but the Doctor didn't say anything as he simply stared into the screen.

It was a silent and tense moment as Jack and Gwen joined them around the monitors. Then the Doctor finally spoke, "You know, as a Star Wars fan, I thought I'd have a lot more fun if I ever got to say this but... That's no moon... It's a space station!"

"It has to be the moon. It's too big to be a space station," argued Ivy defensively, as she looked again at the monitors.

"I have a bad feeling about this," whispered the Doctor.

"When did we have a space station?" Ivy asked incredulous. "And can we stop with the Star Wars references already?"

"I didn't order a space station; did you order a space station? I distinctly cannot remember Earth having a space station," stated Jack, his voice running high.

"We don't," Gwen replied gravely, her eyes narrowing, as though steeling herself for battle.

"Someone shoot me. I really need to be unconscious right now," said Jack quietly.

Nobody said a word after that as the Doctor began his merry-go-round dance around the control panels again, seemingly trying to man and steer the TARDIS. Then a familiar sensation of juddering began, the central column within the console started to rise and fall like a piston more rapidly and a heavier deal of "percussive maintenance"- the phrase Ivy was using to describe the Doctor's kicking and punching of the controls - ensued. The monitors flashed a different screen showing strange shapes and symbols instead. Ivy assumed this was probably just an alien screensaver or safety message like the ones you got whenever your plane was about to land, as Jack and Gwen retrieved their weapons they concealed under all their clothing.

"Anyone else notice how incredibly calm and witty we are in the face of imminent deadly danger?" spotted Ivy.

"Hey, we're British," replied Jack nonchalantly.

"You're alien," said Ivy.

"Racist," said Jack jokingly as he and Gwen began moving towards the exit just as the TARDIS safely landed within the enemy space station.

* * *

Jack went out first with his pistol as his weapon and his infallible immortality for defence. Gwen followed second as per usual Torchwood procedure. They swept the immediate area, ensuring there were no hostiles in the vicinity before the Doctor and Ivy followed. Though the TARDIS had defences to ensure their safety, they weren't going to take any chances today. Today was full of surprises and Jack was never a man for surprises. Especially not in big enemy space stations. He once had a boyfriend who liked that though.

The TARDIS only materialised in a small empty corridor but it was comprehensively intimidating. There was nothing to identify that the area was dangerous, there were no weapons rigged, defence systems put in place or even any visible cameras, but it simply felt intimidating. Clean and clear white metal panel walls with complex circuitry running through every direction. In the walls, floors and even the ceilings. Completely cold, barren and lifeless. That's why robots in movies were so scary back on Earth. They always felt and looked completely unnatural and dead. Even for Jack who was far beyond this technological age, it still gave him the creeps.

"You know, I really don't like the look of this place," announced Jack as he led the rest down the corridor which seemed far too long.

"Yeah," agreed Gwen. "Big alien space station like this and no security, or alarms or even people. Something's definitely up."

"They knew we were coming," answered the Doctor wisely. "They -whoever they are- will be waiting for us, but they wanted us to land here first. Make sure we got on board, cos a place like this, with this type of technology, could definitely have given the TARDIS a tougher time than it did. But I suspect there are still some traps somewhere else, since the TARDIS overrode the manual controls to bring us here precisely."

"The TARDIS brought us here?" asked Ivy surprised.

"She does that from time to time," answered the Doctor. "To be honest, I sometimes feel I'm just a backseat driver for the most part."

"No, that's not it," interrupted Jack. His delightful smile and charm seemed to be fading from his face fast. "This place, there's something about it that feels familiar...that I just want to run away from."

The Doctor looked curiously at Jack and then at the corridor they were in. For a moment he thought the Captain might have just been exaggerating again, but he slowly felt an eerie sense of familiarity creep up on him.

The Doctor then leaned forwards against the wall so close his nose was pressed against it. He observed the circuitry for a moment, then suddenly licked the wall and sniffed it. His eyes narrowed as his mind raced to come up with the logical possibilities. The more sense things were making, the happier his face lit. However, just as he reached his conclusion his face fell just as abruptly with realization.

"Jack, do you know what happened to the Game Station after you were brought back from the dead?"

"No," answered Jack hesitantly, staring wide eyed with fear at the Doctor. "I told you, I used my vortex manipulator to get back to Cardiff, 1869... Doctor, are you telling me that this is the Game Station?"

"Yes and no," answered the Doctor cryptically. "It was made from the Game Station. Someone pulled it out of its time and made this space station. I recognise that Bad Wolf vortex energy anywhere."

"Pulled it out of its time? You mean what happened back then - did it still happen or not?"

"I still look like me and you're still here so we can assume it did. Just warn me if I start going bald again," the Doctor replied, half-seriously.

"Hold on, exactly what's going on?" asked Ivy.

"Yeah," joined in Gwen impatiently. "What's this Game Station? And what's this got to do with this place."

"The Game Station's where I died the first time." Jack said simply.

"9th for me," The Doctor offered, "It's a long story but it- it was the last battle in the Last Great Time War between Time Lords and Daleks. It's possibly the most crucial point in time for me and the essentially the Universe…Simply put, someone's been stalking me. Hunting me. Preparing for me."

"Or us."

"No. Just me I think. The Universe actually does revolve around me, metaphorically speaking."

"Just seems like we need to hurry to me," said Gwen finally. "Main priority is still Matt."

Jack nodded vehemently in agreement and hurriedly led the way down the long familiar winding corridor again.

The Doctor took the rear as they began slightly running down the corridor now. Just as he had anticipated, everything here was unexpected. His life was full of paradoxes like that. Following Wade resulted in as many questions as it did answers, though he could barely think as the Vortex screamed louder the deeper the ventured into this space station.

Wade and whoever he was working for or with had been tracking him down all the way back to the Game Station. Possibly even further. How did they track him? His appearances were so erratic it would be impossible to trace. They couldn't just lie in wait for him. They had to track him, but how? Not even UNIT or Torchwood had that sort of technology. Nor anyone in this current solar system. Only the Councils on Gallifrey would have been able to do that, but they were no longer there.

They knew he had regenerated. Wade recognised him simply by looking or was that simply from tracking the TARDIS to him? The TARDIS! Perhaps that was how they traced him. But then again, no. The TARDIS was more sentient than people give it credit for and could easily recognise if it was being traced.

The Vortex. Everything kept coming back to the vortex. Was it possible someone was watching him through the vortex itself? But that was impossible. There were dangers there even he would think twice before facing happily with both converses on. But everything still kept coming back to the vortex itself. Then again that was the nature of the vortex. Every single entity, person, dog, cat, toilet seat, rock, chair or banana, exists because of the vortex keeping it in its own reality, dimension and time. Perhaps if someone could tune into that... Though how anyone in the universe besides the Doctor could do that was beyond him.

Just as the Doctor seemed to almost grasp at what lay ahead, everyone slowed to a halt, as what was actually lying ahead was a fork in the road. The corridor had led them to two separate paths. Jack turned to the Doctor but he already knew what they needed to do without him having to say it aloud.

"Alright. Let's split up. Me and Gwen will take the right," announced Jack, as he cocked his weapon, ready to fire.

"We'll take the left," answered the Doctor as he plunged his hand into his pocked and pulled out his own "weapon". Ready and brandishing the sonic screwdriver, he turned to Ivy. "You ready Ivy?

"Oh I'm gonna get my Buffy on." she replied.

And they turned left.

* * *

"Dude, you're out of your mind!" screamed a protesting Matt, arms and legs swinging at his captor, as he was hurled out of the spacecraft by his jacket collar. He landed on his behind with a loud thump on the cold white floor.

"That's between me and my mind," Wade proudly as he stepped out of his craft. "And everyone else in it."

"This is my first time in the company of one, but I'm starting to really not like mercenaries… OR CRAZY PEOPLE!" exclaimed Matt loudly, brushing down his messy brown hair, as he quickly surveyed his surroundings. He didn't know where he was but he was certain rescue was on the way. He just needed to escape this lunatic of a captor.

"Don't judge now, I'm not just that," replied Wade testily.

"Then what are you?" asked Matt, keeping sure he had the Mercenary talking. Talking and distracted.

"I'm a mercenary," replied Wade airily, though it didn't actually make much sense. "Anyways, keep your mouth shut Robin the Boy Hostage. We haven't got all day."

He flicked his gun towards door, gesturing for him to walk in that direction. Matt moved slowly, his hands now inside his jacket pockets again with his fingers wrapped around a cold steel object he had stolen from Torchwood. _And people still say crime doesn't pay, _he thought.

"So what is this place?" continued Matt

"Big space station," came the short reply.

"What kinda space station?" prodded Matt, attempting to keep the conversation going as long as he could.

"I just said, big," answered Wade unhelpfully.

"They're gonna come after me, you know," exclaimed Matt a bit louder than usual to cover the clinking noise his secret weapon kept making. He needed Wade to let his guard down, even for just a single solitary moment.

"I'm counting on it," he said proudly. "I expect they'll find us shortly cos I have no clue where we're going. Like I said. Big."

"I expect you'll be even more lost if I shoot your head," said Matt, as he swung around, with Torchwood's sonic blaster in hand.

"Possib--"

But before Wade could finish his sentence, Matt pulled the trigger as he aimed for the space between Wade's eyes, though not knowing what would happen, or if anything would happen at all. Suddenly, a blinding flash of blue and white light burst out of the blaster, projected a square on Wade's head before it cut a clean square right through. In an instant Wade fell to the floor, the top half of his head missing and his skull opened with its insides still pulsing raw and bloody.

"Awesome! So this is a sonic blaster. I want one for Christmas." cried Matt happily; still looking at the mess he created as he escaped down the mazy corridor.

"Hey! The voices are all gone!" exclaimed Wade, as he suddenly sprang into life, jumped up in pursuit as he unsheathed his katana and swinging it ferociously, then running headlong into a wall. He suspected a major part of this was due to lack of eyes. And brains.  
_  
"Nope. Still right here."  
_  
"Dammit!"

* * *

The Doctor and Ivy had been going in a straight line down the corridor, but they had yet to meet anyone. Though this particular path had many junctions and various other doors, the Doctor simply led them straight. He was concentrating deeply and Ivy felt she ought to keep quiet. The deeper they went down that corridor, the more there were signs of activity -though entirely mechanical- which hopefully meant life.

A low rumbling hum grew steadily louder the longer they walked. And once in a while, they were spooked by raspy murmurs like that of lift stations sounded from within the walls, shattering the electronic silence of the space station corridors. But they still hadn't found Matt and the longer they took, the less chance he'd be alive.

"This way just looks like a dead end," said Ivy impatiently.

"We're on the right path," answered the Doctor sagely, though his eyebrows furrowed deep. "This way!" he then cried suddenly, sprinting off into a new direction as if he picked up a scent or trail.

Ivy ran after him, turning right, left, right, right, and finally down a suddenly much darker path with an ominous door at the end of it. It was different. Whereas everything else they had seen before was clean, polished and white, this door was black, rusty and dirty.

And as Ivy approached it cautiously behind the Doctor, she could not help feel an indiscriminate urge to flee the area as fear began flooding her system.

"I don't think Matt would ..." Ivy tried to speak but she couldn't. "What is-"

"I don't know," said the Doctor quickly. His eyes flashed almost with anger. "But someone's definitely in there. I can feel it."

He rushed forwards and pressed his sonic screwdriver against the door, and it pulsed its blue light cheerily not knowing what terror it was about to unlock. Automatically, Ivy's fist clenched into a ball, ready to punch anything that might attack her. Though seeing enough horror movies, she was quite sure it would be of little use as she wasn't the toughest of people in the in these horror movies, the girl usually gets attacked first. Unless Joss Whedon wrote it. As these wild images ran through her mind, the screwdriver kept pulsing and whistling its happy tune. Then there was resounding click and the door eerily slid out of sight to reveal inside.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Ivy in shock. "What is this place?"

Inside was a dark cavernous room with a long lone passageway in the middle which separated what Ivy saw were rows and rows of people trapped inside transparent glass pods like twisted and horrible exhibition displays. But they didn't move. Their eyes closed and their heads angled slightly, it looked as though they were sleeping and for a difficult moment Ivy considered the possibility that they might even be dead. That this room had rows upon rows of dead people...

"I'm so sorry," mumbled the Doctor to the room as he entered quietly.

"Are they dead?" asked Ivy hesitantly as she summed up the courage to follow the Doctor inside.

"They're barely alive," said the Doctor, as he looked into one capsule where a young woman with neat strawberry blonde hair resided. Wearing only a crisp and clean patient garment, she didn't seem to have any visible scars or bruises that Ivy was expecting to see. She had no bruises nor were there any indication of some sort of struggle and abuse. In fact, she looked alarmingly healthy. Even her fingernails were neatly cut. Ivy's eyes jumped to the next capsule, which was of a young man. He too seemed frighteningly healthy and clean. Even the hair on his head was tidy and neat.

"Doctor," whispered Ivy, as he nudged him with her elbow. "Someone's been taking really good care of them. Look at this. Look at how-"

"Healthy they look?" he said quickly in realization, and peered closer at the capsules completely engrossed. "Good eye. Very good eye."

"Thanks... but there's just so many of them," said Ivy, a cold shiver of realization running from the base of skull down her spine. "All these people here are lab rats? Or clones? Or what? Who did this? Why are they even in these capsules?"

Then something caught her good eyes. Ivy saw at the base of the capsule were tiny data screens with green numbers and words.

**Specimen 919017  
Hearts: Abnormal Shapes  
Note: Requires Morphic Field Reinforcement from Subject J and third DNA strand from Subject M.**

"I know this technology," whispered the Doctor gravely, as he joined her in reading the data screen. "These pods came a long way through time and space to get here." Ivy gave him a quizzical look.

"I've seen them in my travels before. A long time ago. They're from the year 5 billion, from the hospital of New New York." He paused as the memories flooded back with surprising ease.

"The nurses there were cats," he added cheerily.

"Cats?"

"Cat nuns. Yeah. But this just goes to show one very important thing," said the Doctor as his smiled and cheer vanished instantly.

"Someone's been very desperate. Hunting me down but also having to salvage scraps."

"But why would anyone do this? Who would do this?" asked Ivy desperately.

"For the preservation of a legacy so as to instil order to an unforgiving chaos in this universe, I would do this," exclaimed a cold and unforgiving voice loudly from high beyond the darkness.

Just as Ivy strained to see who it was, the room instantly lit up bright white and she could now see towering above them, standing on an enclosed balcony, staring down at her with piercing dark eyes was a tall flame haired woman whose gaze was so severe Ivy became utterly transfixed with fear.

"The Rani," announced the Doctor.

"It's a pleasure to see you again Doctor. It's been too long. Surprised to see me?"


	9. Chapter 9 : Reunion of The Time Lords

**Chapter Nine: Reunion of the Time Lords**

"You're not the Doctor I knew," said the Rani with clear malice in her eyes.

"Perhaps you never knew the Doctor," replied the Doctor, his gaze meeting hers with thinly veiled hidden fury.

Ivy looked on with apprehension as she stood rooted to the ground. She was so stricken with fear that she could not move. In fact, her feet felt as though she was wearing heavy lead boots. As Ivy tried to lift her foot up, she soon realised it wasn't fear at all. She simply could not move her feet.

"Gravitation panels," said the Rani from her high balcony. "Multiplies the gravity of anything it touches by tenfold... That's why I'm up here."

"Neat parlour trick," spat the Doctor, his chest swelling with rage as all the pieces of the puzzle began falling in place. He was becomingly slightly beyond himself now. He used to be so much more patient, much more merciful.

"It's funny how every single one of your regenerations always seem to want to antagonize me Doctor," replied the Rani dryly. "The more you change, the more you stay the same." The Rani found exquisite delight in toying with the Doctor after all this time. She knew how to press his buttons, how to enrage him, how to turn and twist him from the inside and out. And she would make it last for as long as she could. That would be the first of the Doctor's punishment for his crimes.

"Whereas you never change," said the Doctor, his defiant face prominently shining in the light. "So you're behind all of this? What is it for? I should have known it was you!"

"Well of course I was behind this," replied the Rani impatiently. "But don't we have more pressing issues to discuss than my test subjects?"

"Test subjects?" exclaimed Ivy incredulously. The Rani's eyes flashed in anger at being interrupted. She had been eagerly waiting for the Doctor but Ivy pressed on, the anger boiling inside her demanding out. "These were people! With lives! And family! AND YOU TOOK THEM FROM THEM!"

"That is simply… immaterial. None of that matters," replied the Rani urgently.

"IT DOES NOW!" Ivy raged on as a hot tear trickled down her cheek. "Cos we're gonna stop it." Ivy said those words with vicious intent and though she was slightly taken aback by her own brazenness, she definitely wasn't going to go back on what she just said.

The Rani paused to laugh quietly to herself. Her lips curled into a dangerous grin.

"He really does know how to get the feisty ones doesn't he?" The Rani smiled wide and asked curiously, "Girl, what is your name?"

"My name is immaterial," growled Ivy through her teeth.

"That's a very pretty name."

"I know. The Immaterial Girl. That's me," barked Ivy rebelliously.

"You will learn your place before a Time Lord impudent girl!" screamed the Rani as her face broke severely in rage. That was all Ivy saw when suddenly the floor beneath her feet began to glow and heat up an intense fierce light. She could feel the glaring burn on her face. The Doctor screamed as she looked at her and Ivy saw his expression full of genuine fear on his face for the very first time. She steeled herself for the worst but then without any other warning, a strike of electricity shot from the panels and through her helpless body. The lightning currents arced and enveloped her entirely as she screamed and screeched in pain.

"STOP IT!" cried the Doctor falling to his knees where the floor anchored and weighed him welcomingly.

Then as quickly as it had come, the currents of electricity stopped and Ivy fell unawares to the floor. Wisps of smoke curled off Ivy, but the Doctor saw that she was still alive. She coughed and gasped for breath on the floor. The Doctor surmised that the Rani didn't make this trap to kill but only to torture them. Relief crashed over him for a moment, but his anger pounded in his temples. He looked up at the Rani as she stared down malicious and malevolent. Then she spoke and unravelled her dark plan.

"You wanted to know why? Why these people are here? These people Doctor, shall be a brand new race... of Time Lords."

* * *

Matt didn't know where he was running to, but he knew he was definitely not going to stop. He ran full pelt forwards and occasionally turning at corners on instinct. In his mind he believed the more complex his route, the less likely it was Wade was going to find him. He ran what felt like miles and miles of empty hallways with the sonic blaster in hand, ready to turn and shoot the minute he heard Wade's sinister voice. But Matt hadn't heard it since he last splattered Wade's brains out with the sonic blaster and so he kept running onwards, hoping to find Ivy or the Doctor. Surely someone had come for him.

The panic in him rose, bubbling in his stomach and burning crazy thoughts in his head. He hadn't heard anything but the echoes of his own footsteps for so long now. The overwhelming sense of isolation gripped him and rapidly he felt so alone. Surely if there was going to be rescue it'd be quick like when UNIT rescued them in Cardiff. Mental images of those same UNIT soldiers led by Jonathan marching down the corridors flooded his mind.

Unless, his rescuers met with a complication. Had they encountered Wade in an attempt to find him? A brief thought of turning back where he came from occurred to him as his running began to slow. Or perhaps whoever Wade was working for had stopped them. Matt had come to a complete stop now. He leaned against the wall, slumping his back on it as he panted and gasped lungfuls of air. He wasn't built for running. He was built for Playstation playing and TV watching. As he caught his breath, he laughed slightly at the idea of breathing air in the middle of space. But then his tiny moment of amusement vanished as he heard foreign footsteps growing louder. It echoed loudly off the walls. Matt steadied himself and raised the blaster wrapped tightly in his hands.

And just as he was about to pull the trigger Gwen turned the corner. Matt let out a singular yell of mingled relief and fury when he saw her.

"Gwen!" he bellowed as loud as his could go. She turned eyes wide with shock which softened with ease at finding Matt.

"Matt!" she screamed. Ignoring his fatigued legs that were screaming in pain slightly, he ran and skipped towards her delightedly.

"Jack, over here! I found him," said Gwen as she rushed and grabbed him in a hug.

"Am I glad to see you!" said Jack joining them as he flashed him a grin. Matt being overcome with relief grabbed him in a hug as well. He was never one for hugs but it felt appropriate to hug after being rescued from a psycho killer. But just as he that thought was running through his mind, Jack began pulling out from the hug.

"Is that my sonic blaster?" Jack asked suddenly.

"No," replied Matt instantly, hiding it behind his back. "It's...mine"

"You stole my sonic blaster?" cried Jack incredulously as he attempted to grab a hold of it, but Matt being experienced in schoolyard bullying -and getting away with stealing - ducked and dodged with great ease. "You know what I said about being glad to see you? I'm not so sure anymore"

"Quick! Gimme the sonic blaster! You're in a lot of danger!"

"What? Why?"

"Cos if you don't, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Hey, HEY!" yelled Gwen angrily splitting them apart with both hands. "You kids can fight about this later. Matt, where's Wade?"

"HYAAAAA!" cried Wade as he burst into corridor as per on cue with a katana in each hand, swinging wildly and shredding through the walls of the space station. His face was barely recognisable drenched in blood and still not fully healed yet. His skin glowed a dazzlingly bright gold with regenerative energy trailing in his cranium. Wade stumbled and tripped on his feet before his newly regenerated eyes set on to the three of them. His jaw dropped as he drooled hungrily at the sight of his prey. He bayed for their blood.

"Apparently blowing his head off doesn't stop him," puffed Matt, his heart racing again for the umpteenth time today.

"That's just kinky," answered Jack.

"I really should stop watching Heroes. And you should stop watching...whatever it is you're watching," Matt stated as he slowly began backing the hell away from Wade.

"Captain..."

"You two hang back," said Jack grimly as he stepped forwards, and casting aside his jacket.

"Are you sure?"

"Nobody shoots my boyfriend and gets away with it."

Wade hurtled forwards, slashing and hacking at the air, ready to draw first blood as Jack pounded straight at him, roaring ferocious and visceral, before launching himself angrily at his foe.

* * *

The world around her swam into view as Ivy's eyes refocused. Her body ached and screamed in horrible agony as though a thousand hot knives had seared through every inch of her flesh. The faint smell of smoke filled her nostrils as she struggled in her breathing. She could feel the hard floor under her skull and back and though she tried, she knew was immobilised in this awkward position. On her back, spread-eagled next to the Doctor, who was on his knees and just the tiniest bit too far to touch her. Staring straight down from her high balcony was The Rani.

She stared coldly at Ivy and the Doctor, and then tore away from her gaze. The Rani stood quietly, her head now bowed, her long pale hands wrapped around the device which had tortured Ivy. It was a long, quiet and strange breather. She might have been contemplating her plans, considering her next words of explanation or else, Ivy guessed ridiculously, possibly even praying.

"You see girl," she spoke finally, her burning eyes now again fixed and set upon Ivy, "the Doctor, like myself, may appear to be human, but we are not. We are so much more."

She spoke very carefully and pausing in between, as though trying to find the exact words that would give her explanation the best meaning. It seemed to Ivy she was more than just revealing her intentions. The Rani seemed almost desperate to make them understand.

"We are Time Lords," she began again, her cruel features looked to have soften as she glanced quickly at the Doctor, "born far from this insignificant part of the universe, on a planet called Gallifrey, where we watched and ruled the workings and structures of the universe itself." She paused at the thought. Her eyes then full of apprehension blinked and turned cold again in an instant. She stared at the Doctor but he did not seem to want to face her.

"But then, there was a war. A Time War. The Last Great Time War... We fought creatures called the Daleks with all of creation at stake... And then they lost. But so did we. Everyone lost. Gallifrey died. The Daleks died. Time Lords died. Everyone was gone. Everyone, except the two of us."

Listening to the Rani, Ivy wished she could look at the Doctor's face. He was now staring at the floor and had grown terribly silent. He seemed to shrink with every word the Rani spoke. The Rani was delightedly watching the Doctor squirm and hide his face. She laughed and a mirthless smile curled.

"Listen to me, reliving such old stories...Why I'm growing sentimental. Aren't you Doctor?" she taunted him. He didn't move. He didn't stir. He didn't look up. She was waiting for him to reply or even to explain himself, but none came.

"Except there's one thing I don't get," she proceeded gently. "How did you kill them Doctor? How did you, wipe out millions and millions of lives? How did you burn an entire planet, your own planet... with all those people? Even your own family. What... did it feel like? What did it feel like... to commit genocide against your own?"

The Doctor was quiet and calm as he raised his head up to the Rani, but just as he was on the verge of speaking, Ivy realised what the Doctor was secretly doing. She glimpsed a glint of the sonic screwdriver in his hands.

"I really wish I was lying face down instead of having to look at you like this," said Ivy suddenly. Both the Rani and the Doctor were taken by surprise but Ivy began plucking up her courage. The Doctor raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at her as she returned it with a quick surreptitious wink.

"And why's that?" asked the Rani dangerously. She was finding Ivy to be more than just an irksome distraction now.

"So that way you can kiss my ass."

She knew it was coming as the Rani's eyes blazed and the same sensations played over again. The heat off the floor rising, the bright light blinding her and then the unbelievable searing pain running through her entire body as the arcs of electricity enveloped her entire screaming body once more. And just like before, the pain abruptly ended.

"You really shouldn't be getting on her bad side Ivy," said the Doctor immediately whilst surreptitiously giving her a restrained yet welcomed nod of understanding.

"It's my backside she has to kiss," chuckled Ivy, as she glimpsed again the glowing sonic screwdriver in the Doctor's hands as he furtively pointed it at the floor beneath him. Then, the heat from the floor rose again as the enraged Rani tried desperately to silence her.


	10. Chapter 10 : Fall Into Nothingness

**Chapter Ten : Fall Into Nothingness That Awaits You**

"I'm gonna kill you first!" growled Wade into Jack's ear trying to bite it as they wrestled against the wall fiercely.

"Nuuh," said Jack, as he struggled to wrest control of Wade's other katana from his grasp. "Didn't anyone tell you, it's not polite to do it rough the first time!" shouted Jack as he twisted Wade's hands violently and as Wade's grip on his weapon eased, Jack pounded in with an almighty head butt he'd still feel in the morning. However Wade was far too resilient and jumped at the opening presented to him by way of a hefty punch to the face.

"That's not appropriate for this level. We might have to change the maturity rating!" said Wade before Jack jumped in hurriedly to put him in a chokehold.

"Keep on talking nutcase!" barked Jack angrily as he began to squeeze the life out of the mercenary between his hands.

"Speaking of nutcases!" exclaimed Wade before giving Jack a direct groin attack with his knee.

"That's just mean!" screamed Jack high-pitched.

* * *

"Pathetic," lauded the Rani disdainfully as she watched scornfully over Ivy's now unconscious body. The young girl had put on a stern and brave front. So when she charged her again full of electricity, she had expected and perhaps even hoped that she would remain conscious. It would have been an admirable effort. However it seemed the human was already teetering on the edges. "But now it's just you and me Doctor. We can talk much more freely."

However the Doctor didn't seem to be entirely interested. He was staring at Ivy, lying down on the floor, with her arms bent in an awkward angle. It was a well known fact among the Time Lords that the Doctor had a habit of travelling with an entourage and that he was particularly fond of them. The Rani remained silent. She willed for the Doctor to feel every ounce of pain possible. However the Doctor merely smiled with his eyes lit and turned to face her.

"How did you do it, then?" he asked her harshly as he leered and silenced her mouth in apprehension. "You wanted to talk! Come on! How did you survive? How did you do it? What was your genius plan? Oh, you've probably rehearsed the story in your head a million times, waiting gleefully to share it with. So tell me Rani, how did you...live?"

"I hid!" screamed the Rani, her voice high and resonant as she cut the Doctor off. Her face twisted with ferocious fury as she spat her words back at him. "When the war started, I fled. I hid myself from the Time Lords. I hid myself from the Daleks. I hid myself from everyone and everything."

"There was no way you could have stayed hidden from the war," said the Doctor dismissively with a less threatening tone. The Rani laughed. The Doctor. Time's Champion. For all his great achievements and knowledge, was always far too simple minded. He couldn't read subtext if it bounced off his skull in the form of a sledgehammer.

"I created a wound within the Time Vortex," answered the Rani haughtily. I was desperate. Destroyed a star just to do it. And then I sealed myself and my TARDIS inside. Out of time, out of space... out of danger."

"Impossible."

"I sought refuge in a temporal void. There in the darkness, where the Daleks and Time Lords couldn't find me, I thought I was safe. But I wasn't."

"That's suicide! You don't control voids!" cried the Doctor as he reiterated his disbelief.

"Precisely. I was trapped inside my own temporal void, in a loop, where time moved forwards and back, turned everything from matter to anti matter. "The Rani paused as the Doctor no longer faced her. His head bowed down again shaking. He didn't want to believe her. But she didn't need him to tell her if what she said was true or not. She had to endure it first hand. She waited to speak till he faced her again.

"Do you know how utterly boring it is to be aging and de-aging at the exact instant?" asked the Rani with a frosty smile. "I escaped the vortex in the end obviously, though at the large expense of virtually destroying my TARDIS." She stretched out her hands but the Doctor was finally beginning to understand.

"But when I returned, the war had already ended and Gallifrey was no more. Gone. And time-locked," paused the Rani as she looked into the Doctor's dark eyes. The Doctor was now getting it. Getting what happened. Believing what happened. "I knew you did it. I knew if there was anyone that'd still be alive, it'd be you, so with a near dead TARDIS... I tracked you down."

"Where? When?"

"Tracked you down to the Game station, just as you left, unfortunately. But I didn't mind. I needed to repair what I could of my TARDIS. Like what I've done with it? Turned it inside out just so I could fix it with whatever the Game station could provide."

The Doctor already understood. He remained silent, turned to re-appreciate again the space station with this fresh load of information. The ion trails in the vortex that could only have come from another TARDIS. The Game station corridors. New New York Hospital's clone capsules. All the work of the Rani to find him.

"However finding you again was always going to be easy. I remembered... Gallifrey wasn't your only home."

* * *

"That's the second time you've killed me today," said Jack conversationally despite just being both mortally stabbed through the heart and missing both arms from the shoulder region onwards. "You're good."

"Thanks. I've died twice today as well," replied Wade happily whilst on the floor in an extremely uncomfortable position. There are not a lot of positions for him to be in after having his thirty-five bones broken whilst being wrestled to the ground by two people and an extraordinarily annoying child.

"Three," Jack corrected him. "Just cos you're still talking right now even after I've broken your neck doesn't mean you're not dead. "

"Oh yeah, forgot about that. They broke our neck as well."

"A neck's a bone! Isn't it?"

"Hey, stop breaking the fourth wall. This isn't like Malcolm in the Middle you know! You can't just randomly talk to audience. Of course a neck's a bone."

"Yeah, yeah," snapped Wade sarcastically. "Says you. You're not a Doctor.""

"You can say that again," answered Jack as he kicked Wade's rolling head and remaining leg that had come off inside the launch bay. Jack retreated back into the hangar deck with the others before Gwen pressed a button on the control desk and the launch bay doors slammed tight shut, leaving the Mercenary - who was beginning to regenerate again - with no way to escape.

"Tell me, after you've killed me, what exactly are you going to do then?" cried Wade from inside...

"I dunno. Maybe get a hobby or something..." whispered Gwen as she hit the controls again. She never spaced anyone before but they had no choice. Wade was far too dangerous to be kept alive or kept anywhere else. Warning alarms blared loudly and lights flashed. The airlock doors tightened with loud hisses of decompression and then the launch bay doors swiftly slid open, expelling Wade into space in little regenerative-glowing chunks of body.

There was a collective sigh of relief shared among everyone as Wade vanished into cold space. Jack chuckled and slid down against the wall next to his arms as he bled profusely from laughing. Matt and Gwen joined him in the laughter as well as they stood over him.

"Thanks back there," said Jack appreciatively as the laughter died off.

"Can I say it?" asked Matt earnestly to Gwen.

"What?" asked Jack perplexed.

"Oh alright, go ahead," replied Gwen slightly disappointed.

"Thought you could use a hand!" said Matt as he picked up and waved around one of his arms.

* * *

"What are you planning Rani?" spat the Doctor suspiciously as he kept playing for time. The Rani unknowingly complied to his escape plan as the Doctor continued prodding her with questions. "This isn't you. Power? That's the Master. But you..."

"Of course not," replied the Rani unpleasantly. She smiled lopsidedly with teeth baring and utterly derisive with high ambition. "But I want Gallifrey back. You killed them. I'll bring them back. I'll save them."

"That's very noble," said the Doctor nodding. "But you can't bring them back. They're gone. And these people...they're not Time Lords"

"But they will be. I'll make them into Time Lords...," she trailed off. Her face now contorted with hidden dark thoughts the Doctor was not aware of. I just need a few key ingredients."

"That's why you brought me here," said the Doctor. A brief comfort came to him knowing the others were in no immediate danger. That is until the Rani brought these new breed of Time Lords the gift of life. The gears in the mind of the Time Lord turned as he formed the reason to why the Rani brought him here. "You need genetic material. That's what I'm meant for."

"You certainly know how to overcomplicate," said the Rani darkly. He shivered.

"No, you were never meant for genetic material extraction," elaborated the Rani as she hung a finger above a button on her small white device she laid in the palm of her hand. Then infinitesimally slowly, looked into the Doctor's eyes, pressed it and said quietly, "I already have that. Welcome, Subject J."

At the further end of the room, under the Rani's high balcony, the floor began to vanish as a large capsule unlike the rest rose up from underneath. Smoke billowed and curled around it as the Doctor strained to see who it was that was inside. Then, a sinking chilling feeling ran down the Doctor's body from his skull to his stomach as he began to make out the woman's identity.

"DAD!"

"No, that's impossible, no, Jenny, no, no, no, no, NO!"

"You, were just meant to watch and suffer," explained the Rani as arcs of electricity shot from every wall in the room and striking the Doctor's chest and enveloping him in tormenting waves of lightning.


	11. Chapter 11 : The Girl Who Lived

**Chapter Eleven: The Girl Who Lived**

The world went dark, and a low aching roar filled the Doctor's head, like the hungry growling of a thousand angry beasts. Then clear distinct sensations filled his body as the world swam back into view when he opened his eyes again. His body felt as though it had been ripped apart, then sewn back together with red hot needles. He was mentally and physically exhausted. It had taken every ounce of his concentration to keep himself on the edges of consciousness despite the screaming pain. He did not wish to pass out. Not now.

Jenny's eyes glittered with tears that streamed endlessly down her cheeks. She had screamed for him. Screamed for his torment to end. Her voice kept him conscious. Her pained voice.

It breathed life into him and stoked old dormant embers within him. If the Rani thought showing him his imprisoned daughter would make him suffer, she was wrong. That's because Jenny made him stronger. Jenny kept him fighting. The dark famous rage of the Doctor blazed white and furious, and he felt a surge of his old warrior's strength return to him. His eyes lay upon Jenny's face momentarily, re-energizing him further, then set itself adamant upon the Rani.

"Let her go," he said simply. A shadow of disquiet fell so that his words echoed loudly in the hall before the Rani spoke.

"I don't think you're in a position to make such a demand, Doctor," she replied, her own fell and sinister voice lingering slightly in the dark.

"I am," he continued defiantly. His stubbornness was not yet spent nor his disobedience diminished.

"Oh, really?"

"Because if you don't, then nothing in this universe can stop me," he seethed through gritted teeth, his brows furrowed as he stared menacingly back at her. The Doctor was helpless as rage ensnared him from the inside. "This ends today."

"Is that a threat I hear?" asked the Rani surprised, her fingers stroking the controls in anticipation. She had planned to be patient and careful but the Doctor continued to defy her expectations. He was beginning to live up instead to the legends of himself that had been made in the War, where many of his enemies perished in his hands. Some slain even just by mere words. "A threat uttered by the Doctor. How strange."

"It's a warning," said the Doctor.

"Time's champion, would declare war upon me," concluded the Rani cynically. "You, who've destroyed our people. The countless dead scream your name, Doctor. Many of them your own kind."

"I'm warning you."

"Look around Doctor!" barked the Rani maniacally, rage breaking onto her. The Rani's eyes widening as she gazed upon her experimented humans. "A new generation of Time Lords, ready to return to their rightful place in this universe. To restore order unto all of creation."

"I can't let you do that," muttered the Doctor, his fingers poised on his sonic screwdriver, ready when the time for action came.

"I'd like to see you try," the Rani said finally.

"The Time Lords, they died. They're gone forever. You know the laws of-"

"THEY NEVER DIED! THEY WERE MURDERED! BY YOU, DOCTOR! DO NOT LECTURE ME ABOUT THE LAWS OF TIME! THEY'RE NOT YOURS TO CONTROL!"

"They are mine to keep," he answered, his voice entirely solemn and sombre.

Though the might of the Doctor was in wisdom, he found it difficult to unravel the words he wished to speak to end the Rani's madness.

* * *

"Come on, we have to go find Ivy and the Doctor!" cried Gwen as she grew more and more impatient. She looked around the station trying desperately for the others or even for the TARDIS itself but it was an impossible maze.

"But this place is huge," complained Matt loudly, "It'll take hours."

"Not if you have this", said Jack as he pointed to the device strapped on his wrist. Matt looked at him, confused.

"What's that?" Matt asked. It looked kind of like a bulky watch- nothing spectacular. Although now that Jack seemed protective, it seemed rather exclusive and important. Desire briefly flashed over Matt's eyes.

"Nothing you can use even if you did steal it," Jack retorted, smirking at the curious boy. Matt frowned though a hint of danger was still spread over his face. Jack continued walking alongside them as he pressed several buttons on the device, watching the strange numbers and words on its screen whiz by.

"What are you doing?" Gwen demanded hurriedly as she turned to him. She did not think it was best to linger here, remote and out of touch with the others.

"Tracking life signs on my vortex manipulator," he explained loudly. "AHA! THERE! Got 'em," Jack exclaimed triumphantly punching the air, his bright blue eyes lighting up with victorious pleasure. He dialled a few numbers on the manipulator, concentrating again on the strange symbols that came up on the screen.

"Well lead the way!" Gwen held out both hands, waiting for Jack to make some move. Instead he just stared at his wrist, as if befuddled by a riddle.

"Wait..." Jack said quietly, dialling more numbers. He frowned and his eyes narrowed. The happy grin on his face now faded grimly.

"What is it?" asked Matt.

"That can't be right..."

"What's wrong Jack?" asked Gwen, her voice now dropped to almost a whisper. A touch of fear in her words.

"The base...it's moving!"

* * *

"Your human companion is stirring," observed the Rani.

"Ivy," said the Doctor immediately, who had caught the muttered words.

"Ugh," moaned Ivy, opening her eyes. The light blinded her temporarily but she was soon able to see again. It seemed something new had arrived while she had been lying unconscious. A woman, fair to look upon, trapped silently in the medical pod. Young she was and yet again not so. She also seemed to not belong. Her white arms and clear face were flawless and smooth, her blonde hair was serene though it was clear she was a prisoner of the Rani just like herself.

She also seemed familiar as the woman's eyes reminded her of someone. The woman stared at the Doctor, then noticing Ivy's stare, the light of her eyes fell on Ivy from afar and her sorrow seemed to pierce her heart.

"What happened? Who's that?" asked Ivy not understanding what had happened.

"Don't move," warned the Doctor quickly. He glanced at her briefly.

"Doctor?" said Ivy. He seemed different.

"Stay still," he instructed again. The face of the Doctor was grave. Here it was ageless, neither old nor young. Though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful, it was now showing all signs of pain, suffering but also of newly wrought steely determination. And the light of stars that was once there in his eyes, with thought and knowledge in each glance, seemed to have been set ablaze.

Then the Rani spoke again, with a clear voice.

"Gallifrey's legacy shall be inherited by our new brethren and it'll be all thanks to your daughter," she said.

"Daughter?" asked Ivy, but the Doctor did not respond.

"Imagine my surprise, whilst hunting you down, to find another Time Lord," she said, a smile curling on her lips.

"What did you do to her? Take her out of time? She died!" he cried out finally.

"She survived," explained the Rani dismissively, though the Doctor didn't understand. "The breath of life, protecting her from death. How quaint."

The memories swirled in the Doctor's mind and played them back to him in vivid detail.

The Breath of Life.

Jenny was shot while it still lingered in the air.

She died.

But it saved her. Kept her alive. But just so that the Rani could have her...

"She was what I needed," continued the Rani as she explained further. "The inspiration for my new Gallifrey. If you could create another Time Lord, then why can't I?"

"I did this..."

The Doctor was shaken by a sudden shame and fear; and he felt a great reluctance to look his daughter in the eye, and a loathing of himself. He wished he was far away and that none of this had happened. Everything he did, he did because he thought it would make things better. But often it simply made it worse.

"Yes. You started this. You gave me everything I needed. The material to revive my TARDIS, the inspiration for a new world, the equipment, the Time Lord child, and the Rift."

"The Rift?" said the Doctor, stirring impatiently. The last few hidden connections were beginning to unveil themselves. The voice of the vortex still screamed...

"Yes. The energy of the rift will be the life blood. With my TARDIS, I will tear into it, opening the vortex's heart and pouring that energy to awaken my children!"

"No!" he protested. "You're going to widen the Rift...You'll burn the Earth!"

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Gallifrey burned. Is it not poetic that Earth shall now be turned to cinders to bring back the Time Lords? My new Time Lords."

"You can't control the vortex!" he pleaded to her senses. But they far gone. Too long driven away during her isolation.

"I've done it before!" she retorted angrily.

"Fine! Go on, prove me wrong. Destroy the fabric of the universe. See if I care," said the Doctor, his mood changing to disinterest. Then, he began whistling, looking bored.

The Rani stared at him alarmed. A trap, surely. But she would not fall for it. Then she looked again at the Doctor and doubt was in her eyes. But then the memories returned and then anger she felt for him boiled over and she prepared to torture him once more.

But then the Doctor finally sprang his real trap. He jumped up onto his feet, the gravity panels now deactivated without her knowledge and as the Rani pressed the control in her hands, and the lightning arcs gathered in the ceiling, the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver aloft and aimed well. A glow of blue and a high whistle aimed at the controls.

"NO!"

The lightning bursts but did not hit the Doctor once more. Instead it charged forwards resolutely at the Rani and her device, relentlessly firing strikes of blue electricity at her.

She screamed a terrible, drawn out scream as it her and the waves wrapped itself around the Time Lady, now in unimaginable pain.

But the Doctor had no time for Doctor ran instead to his daughter, hoping her prison would be unlockable. He moved swiftly, Ivy too now free from the gravity panels and at his side, using the sonic screwdriver on the capsule. With a loud resounding click the door opened and Jenny sprang forth, hugging him quickly. But haste was needed.

"Run!" he cried, as the ran full pelt to the exit keeping their heads low, arcs of lightning still furiously striking the Rani. They exited the room and continued their running through the corridors.

"Where are we going?" asked Jenny

"We need to get to the TARDIS right now," he said as they continued running and running down the long and mazy corridors. The vortex now screaming louder than ever before in his mind.

* * *

In the hall, the strikes had ceased, and the Rani, whilst smouldering and her body scarred, laughed triumphantly. Terror and grief shook her as she gasped for breath. Though she had not regenerated, her face had hideously changed, raging fire was in her eyes. Madness and anger strove in her. For the moment, the two powers were perfectly balanced between their piercing points.

"Too late Doctor," she muttered, laughing derisively as she strode out to the control room of her TARDIS. She looked upon the screen on the wall, which showed the world outside.

It was dark clouds with blue sky that rushed past as the base station entered the Earth's atmosphere, floating in the heavens above Cardiff. Positioned right on the axis and point of the Rift itself, ready to burn and devour the planet.

"Far too late," she said. "The future starts today."


	12. Chapter 12 : Flesh, Blood and Mind

**Chapter Twelve: Flesh, Blood and Mind**

They hardly had time to rest, when suddenly the alarms blared and the stone foundations of the Hub trembled at their feet again. In swift movement Mickey Smith stepped up to the monitors and watched in horror at the sight that was unravelling before and above him. A great white space station parted the night clouds as it sank down into the Earth's atmosphere.

Everything was shaking as though the planet itself was aware and now shuddering. Then there came an echoing blast: a great alarm was blown above ground where the UNIT troops rushed into strategic battle positions, armed and as prepared as they could be.

"Martha, we've got to call them off!" shouted Mickey as Martha Jones joined him, her phone in her hand. "They're in that thing."

"I tried!" cried Martha exasperatedly. "But General Adama's not listening to me. That thing's not receiving their warning calls and moved in too close. He's now got permission to use extreme force. He has everything ready to fire."

At that instant, a harsher alarm blared and on the monitors they saw it. Missiles relentlessly pursuing the target from every direction. How many there were, the two couldn't count. Underneath the new General, UNIT's bite was deep.

The Hub was filled with a dead silence as they watched. Only the sound of Ianto Jones unconscious and breathing heavily in the medical bay could be heard.

The missiles whistled straight, but then suddenly before it reached its target, it struck a defensive energy shield that came out of nowhere. One by one the hundreds of missiles exploded harmlessly and filled the air with black smoke.

"Missiles," breathed Martha.

"That's his idea of a warning shot?" said Mickey as he began working away furiously on the computer. "We've got to get the guys out of that space station. I've located the TARDIS but nobody's making contact."

"I can't contact him. That shield must be blocking signals getting in."

Then, as though on cue, it rang in her hand.

"But maybe not the other way round!" she cried victoriously.

"Is it him?" asked Mickey, looking up.

"No, but it's Jack," she said as she answered the phone.

"Tell him I want a raise, or else I'm going freelance."

"You and me both."

* * *

They all stumbled slightly in mid-run, as rolling shockwaves boomed through the space station that seemed to come at them from every direction. They sprang to the walls for support in alarm. Doom, doom, it rolled again, as though giant hands had turned the space station into a vast drum.

"What the hell's was that?" cried Matt as the shockwaves subsided.

"Martha, can you hear me?" said Jack preoccupied.

"Keep moving," said Gwen. "Something bad is going to happen here and I want to be done with this place."

Jack made a turn east, his coat billowing after him as he tracked the life signs on his manipulator and the others followed obediently.

"Loud and clear," replied Martha from the device before suddenly a hologram of her floated inches from his arm. "Where the hell have you guys been?"

"Long story," shouted Gwen from behind as they kept moving.

"Just connect me to the Hub's computers," ordered Jack.

"Doing it now."

Jack quickly ran his other hand through his hair. In spite of peril, the Captain insisted in looking good for the cameras, knowing a hologram of himself was now in Torchwood.

"Now I can boost the signal, get a layout of this place and know where we're going," he said as he turned another corner and the others trailed alongside him with great haste.

"Jack, UNIT's mobilising to blow that space station out of the sky," said Martha gravely. "You've got to get out of there now."

"Yeah, we felt it just now," said Jack.

"Have you found Matt?"

"Right here!" Matt shouted over, waving as he did.

"Yup," said Jack chuckling darkly, "Now we've just got to find the Doctor and Ivy as well."

"They're not with you?" shouted Martha.

"It got complicated," answered Jack. "Hold on, there's some sort of interference with the life signs. Do a scan for me."

There was a pause of quiet as they kept moving. Jack took no turns, right or left, for the passage seemed to be going in the direction he desired. Though there was no pursuit, nobody slowed down and they kept their movements swift and tireless. But then when Mickey's voice came through, they halted with a curious sense of foreboding.

"Jack," he said softly, "The space station is full of people."

"What?" said Gwen. "But we're the only one's here. We haven't passed anyone else."

"Bodies," mumbled Jack as he moved to the wall on his right. He stretched out his vortex manipulator arm and pressed a button on it towards the wall. It quivered slightly then a handleless door appeared and slid away without making a sound. "These aren't just walls. They're rooms full of dead people."

"And Jack," continued Martha, "the space station is right in the eye of the vortex."

"I don't like how things are sounding," said Matt.

"Don't worry," said Jack as he turned to the child, smiling as he did. Despite it all he looked entirely confident. "The Doctor will come up with a plan."

"Good. That's good right?"

Jack paused and his expression turned to that of a combination of a grin and a grimace.

"You're a new companion, so it's best I don't share with you some of his older plans," he joked. Well at least Matt hoped he was joking. "But hey, no matter what trouble we get into, I always come out alive."

"Yeah but you're imm-"

"Let's find him then," interrupted Jack as he quickly traced life signs on his manipulator and led them away.

* * *

He ran. Not turning back, as they followed him, leading the way in the deadly dark. He seemed the same. Just like she remembered him.

"We have to get off this base," said the Doctor as he wove his way through the corridors to the song of his TARDIS, calling only to him. "Right now."

"We're running away?" she asked.

"We haven't got much time," he answered gravely.

"But I wanted to redecorate the Rani's face!" replied Jenny to her father.

"I'll teach you about regeneration later," said the Doctor, a smile flashing across his face.

She beamed back at him and a happiness lifted her thoroughly. Though her heart and head were exploding with questions and things to say to her father, she did not speak of those thoughts aloud, and held them back. The time for that was not here. The game was afoot and the Rani wouldn't be stopped that easily. However, she did allow one curiosity to slip through as she looked at the girl in their company.

She didn't know what to say and instead she blurted out the first thought that came to her mind.

"You're not a Time Lord as well are you?"

"Nope," she answered casually as though they were simply having tea, and not actually running away from a potential and immediate galactic apocalypse. Jenny didn't know why she assumed the girl was a Time Lord. She smelled different from Time Lords at any rate.

"Just tagging along for the time and space travelling thing after the Doctor saved me."

"I guess dad saves a lot of girls huh?" said Jenny.

"Girls, guys, kids and the entire universe. I heard he's indiscriminate like that."

"Equal opportunity saver, my dad. I'm so proud."

"My name's Ivy."

"Jenny. For Generated Anomaly. Think that makes my whole name Jenny Anna Molly, but I never got round to asking dad our surname."

"It's complicated."

"Dad? Wait...what?" exclaimed Ivy.

* * *

"Humanity," she muttered as she looked out onto Earth. Disdain filling her eyes. "A cancer unto the universe. So boldly stretching out across galaxies. Their numbers will darken the sky of every world."

The Rani turned swiftly back around to the controls and opened up the matrix limits of her TARDIS. And she felt it, the rushing sensation of time flooding back to this point with every inch of her Time Lord body. The edges of Rift bracing itself, quivering in its knowledge of what was to come. Every future for the Earth, echoing back through space.

She quickly ignored it and continued the process. She would not allow for the Doctor to stop her when she was so close to her goals. Her thoughts returning to the humans below her instead, fully aware of the impact they would have in the future. And fully aware that they were close to space faring technology that would allow them to stretch their civilization across the stars. Chaos too shall spread with them.

"But that future will not exist. It will not come to pass. It will not come to fruition. Instead, humans shall be replaced with my new Time Lords. We are the true guardians of the universe. We impose order on the chaos of life and evolution. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it."

* * *

The Doctor continued on their way, with due haste. His company were all eager to get out as quickly as possible, and all were willing, aching and tired as they were from the torture inflicted upon them. The Doctor led as usual. In his left hand he held up his glimmering sonic screwdriver, expecting the Rani to block their way back to the TARDIS. But no obstacles came and they kept moving unhindered. Behind him came Jenny, her starlight eyes glinting in the dimmest of lights as she turned her head from side to side, expecting danger around every corner. Behind the soldier, trying to catch up to the fitter two, was Ivy and she kept look of the back. No gleam of danger came from there, but that was no comfort.

If the Rani was not trying to stop them escaping or fighting her, then she must have things of higher priority on her list. And that didn't bode well for them.

Then the Doctor felt it.

His Time Lord mind saw, the Rift bleeding and pulsating horribly like exposed flesh and organs. Far too close was its heart, the Time Vortex itself. The Rani was putting into motion her plans to awaken her Time Lords and the terrible price to pay was the planet below them.

"Jenny, are you ok?" asked Ivy.

The Doctor spun round. Jenny whimpered, her hands on her head at the throbbing in her mind continued as confusion spread across her face. It was clear she was as Time Sensitive as any other Time Lord would be.

"What happened to you?" said Ivy as she looked at her and the Doctor to and fro.

"It's ok," assured the Doctor, as he put his hands on Jenny's shoulders. "You're a Time Lady. You can feel Time. You're feeling the Time Vortex in your mind for the first time. Time Lord children don't usually get exposed to this until they're ready."

"My mind?"

"Yes. But the Rani's tampering with the Vortex. We've got to stop her before it's too late. Can you still move?"

"Yeah. I'm made of sterner stuff. Just never expected that to happen is all."

"You're coping a lot better than I did when I first felt the Vortex," he said smiling. "Come on, the TARDIS is right round this passage."

They moved off again, and just like the Doctor said, the TARDIS was there, standing ready for him. And it was not alone. Gwen, Matt and Jack stood staring back at them, relief spreading amongst all present as words failed for the moment, as they rushed to one another. Matt and Ivy reunited happily in each other's arms. But again the situation was dire and all other pleasantries and greetings had to be missed.

"Good to see you again Matt," said the Doctor, genuinely but briefly. "Glad you got him back."

"Ran into a bit of trouble with Wade," said Gwen, skipping details as she went along. "But he's not going to be a problem anymore."

"And you got someone too I see," said Jack, jerking his head slightly at Jenny. "You run into some trouble as well?"

"A big one," said the Doctor. "An old Time Lord friend I didn't know survived, planning to destroy the Earth. Just like old times. Love it. Wonderful."

"Who's she?" asked Matt bluntly, pointing at Jenny.

"Jenny," she answered happily, not the least taken aback at how chatty everyone was in such a situation.

"She's his daughter," explained Ivy to the others wisely after learning the truth from the Doctor.

"Oh," said Gwen, surprised. "Congratulations?"

"Thanks," beamed Jenny.

"Daughter?" barked Jack.

"Right, time to go," ignored the Doctor, as he quickly jumped aboard his TARDIS. "We have to stop the Rani."

The others followed without hesitation, closing the door behind them. The TARDIS glowed a bright white, wind whipping at its feet and rushing through the passages like a strong breeze. Then they were gone, except for one voice that still echoed through the corridor.

"DAUGHTER?" exclaimed Jack.


	13. Chapter 13 : The Time Lords

**Chapter Thirteen: The Time Lords  
**

The TARDIS roared and screamed, violently shaking as it did. Tossing and turning, being swept and hurled by the harsh unwavering tides of the Vortex. The lights flashed without control and inside, it was difficult to see for it went from utter still darkness to blinding brightness in an instant. All its passengers gripped tightly onto whatever they could, be it a pillar, a railing, or even each other, as the sole driver struggled to maintain any of the limited control he usually had on his vehicle.

"Is it just me or does this feel not that entirely safe to anyone else?" cried Jenny over the noise of rolling thunder emanating from the depths of the engine bellow.

"It's fine," seethed the Doctor through gritted teeth as he struggled to pull the dimensional lever with both hands.

"This is fine?" asked Jenny.

"Yes," insisted the Doctor, annoyed. "It is."

"How is this fine?" persisted Jenny incredulously, her hair waving about causing her to look merely like a blonde blur.

"It's just a bit of a rockety ride," hissed the Doctor angrily, as the dimensional lever snapped in his hands.

"It feels like it's about to explode!"

"Look, do you want to drive this thing?" shouted the Doctor.

"Yes!" she cried genuinely, her eyes lighting up at the mere mention of it.

"Well...you can't!"

"What about me?" chipped in Matt.

"Matt, I haven't been shot enough times in the head to think that's a good idea."

The Doctor returned to his control, frantically pressing buttons indiscriminately, though nothing seemed to make things better. If he had known, he might as well have turned the TARDIS off and on again, and see if that worked, because everything he did just seemed to make things worse.

* * *

Jack hugged the pillar as tightly as he could. The turbulence was so rough, he was using all four limbs to wrap himself around the pillar, looking ridiculously like a koala bear in peril. And as everyone knows, that's very hard to do. As the TARDIS continued to roll and fumble about through space, his Vortex manipulator began to buzz. Though with all the shaking going on in the TARDIS, he barely realized it was vibrating on his wrist.

"I forgot I turned it on silent," he said casually, though struggling to open his manipulator with his teeth whilst hanging on desperately. "Hope it's not more bad news."

Then, a cool blue 3D hologram of Martha Jones popped up, looking serious and business-like. This hinted that it was most likely bad news.

"Jack, General Adama is trying to contact you," she said briskly, but her tone was grave and sedate. No hint of the cheerful smile that was on full display just a few hours ago in the Hub lingered.

"Ah crap," Jack said. "Not the best time right now I'm in a bit of a-"

"Sorry," interjected Martha before he could continue, "but he's demanding to talk to you."

The hologram of Martha vanished, replaced by that of General Anthony Edward Adama. His impeccable features popped out immediately, streaks of grey in his dark neat hair, the keen yellowish eyes and a near constant expression of dissatisfaction. Before he even spoke there was an impatient curl on his lip and a queer gleam in his eye.

"Harkness, tell me what the hell is going on up there," he demanded immediately. He was witty like that. "Members of your organization are not cooperating with UNIT. This is costing me more time and money than it's worth."

"I'm sorry, I'm having trouble hearing you-," said Jack sarcastically, "I'm getting a lot of bullshit on this line. Just hold your fire. We've got the situation under control. The Doctor's here."

"I don't care. I want whatever that thing up there is, out of my sky."

"We need more time, just hold your fire," barked Jack. "You can't do anything with your missiles anyways, so just let us handle this."

"You're underestimating UNIT's capabilities. Our armoury goes beyond just missiles-"

"You can't shoot it down!" said Jack angrily, glowering down on the General. "You shoot it down, it'll shred Cardiff into pieces and everything else around it."

Adama paused silently, deliberating but Jack knew he was right. It was simply a matter of pride for the General. He did not like being bossed around by his own species let alone by Jack Harkness, who in his books should be regarded as an enemy if not a threat with regards to his species and his Torchwood team.

"Twenty minutes," he said finally, though his face turned a tinge of purple at the admission. "That's all I can give you whilst we try to vacate the area. One way or the other, I want all of you aliens out of my sky!"

* * *

The Doctor whizzed around the console desperately but his TARDIS would not stop. It flew about madly and with surprising resolve. Ivy looked on painfully, barely clinging onto the metal railings which she banged her head on twice already as a result of the emphatic tossing and turning about that was happening in the TARDIS. And just as the emphatic rollercoaster ride felt as though it was nearing its peak, the machine turned calmed and subsided. The raging TARDIS turned still and every movement felt as light as feather. Though the occupants were still proving the laws of inertia right, as they stumbled and fell about the place.

"I'm glad that stopped," said Gwen, struggling to get herself up with feet that felt as though they were made of smooth honey.

"It stopped?" cried Matt, looking green and ill, lying spread-eagled on the floor, unable and unwilling to attempt to stand on his feet. "Why's my head still giddy then? Did anyone see the number plate on the thing that hit us? Why's everyone spinning? This feels weird."

"Are we on Earth?" asked Jenny inquiringly, still somehow looking elegant and as though nothing more than a little breeze had fluttered through her hair.

"One way to find out," said Ivy, third to succeed in standing up and closest of the companions to the door. She made her way to it quickly, her heart thumping excitedly at the thought of being on familiar ground, or any ground for that matter. Jenny shuffled after her and Matt followed, both excited at the prospect of being back on Earth. Ivy threw back the doors and the cold winds rushed in, blinding her slightly. But even then, she saw and knew it wasn't Earth.

"Wow."

Spread out before her was a sparkling array of great swirling lights, streaks of magnificent red and blue dancing across one another. To Ivy's eyes there seemed no horizon to the unending swathes of beautiful light mixed with white-wispy gold exploding mists of energy that flowed, taken in by the swirling flow.

"We're not in Cardiff anymore," uttered Matt softly shivering.

"Where are we?" Jenny asked, her voice full of awe at the spectacle outside as a nearby passing cloud seemed to sparkle in a brilliant bluish-green.

"Doctor?" said Jack, who joined the others at the door.

"We're nowhere," answered the Doctor simply. His voice seemed further away, as though still at the controls and not joining the group at the door, but Ivy didn't turn to look. She was still enjoying the lovely sights.

"Nowhere?" repeated Gwen.

There was a couple of beeping noises.

"Vortex Manipulator doesn't know where we are either," confirmed Jack matter-of-factly. He didn't sound curious.

Ivy restrained Matt who tried to get under her arm and step into the light. There didn't seem to be any ground below. Just, more swirling lights of red and blue.

"What kind of place is this?" asked Jenny.

"It's not really a place," answered the Doctor calmly. "It's the Time Vortex."

"Yeah but why'd you bring us here?" asked Jack confused.

"I didn't," said the Doctor resigned and just as confused. He turned to the console he was leaning on, and flipped several buttons and switches, which didn't seem to alter the situation at all. "The TARDIS did... Or maybe the Vortex did. I don't know."

Ivy felt a slight twinge of uneasiness realising that the man with all the answers, suddenly didn't know anything that was going on. Though he still sounded optimistic at the realization of not knowing something. Usually, when she didn't know something, she'd be slamming her fist on the desk. That said, she didn't think the current situation and her doing homework were too similar.

"So can we get out?" asked Jenny without a hint of fear. "Or are we stuck here?"

There was a short and rare slice of silence in the TARDIS as the Doctor pondered. Ivy backed away from the door, locking it in case of...well, Matt. She returned to the centre of the TARDIS with the others, watching the Doctor simply thinking.

"I think the Vortex's trying to help us," he said finally before trying to correct himself. "Or help us, help it. It's putting us in a small time loop, so we'll have time."

"To do what?" Matt asked.

"To plan how to stop the Rani," Ivy answered. The Doctor nodded and pointed at her smiling.

"The Vortex is sentient?" asked Jack quickly but the Doctor didn't give an answer.

"Ok, so how are we going to stop her?" interrupted Jenny quickly. She was far more interested in discussing strategies than vortexes.  
"I thought we might try violence," answered Gwen quickly.

"I think dad will disapprove, but I agree," replied Jenny cheerily, already taking to the liking of Gwen's way of thinking. "There's no other way."

"There's always another way," sighed the Doctor heavily, as he ruffled his hair as though it stimulated his brain. "We've just go to think."

"My ears are still ringing from just now, you guys think," said Matt as he slumped into one of the chairs, still looking a hint of green in the face. The Doctor who had begun pacing round and round the console in deep thought, suddenly stopped in front of him, glancing to Ivy and then back at Matt.

"Maybe we should send you two somewhere safe first," said the Doctor predictably.

"For the last time, no!" cried Ivy incredulously. The Doctor looked back just as defiantly. Ivy knew losing Matt must have scared him and being captured by the Rani probably didn't ease his worries, but Ivy didn't want to leave. She couldn't. Their lives should have been the least of his worries, but he didn't seem to be able to help it. Both of them stood their ground uneasily, but Ivy refused to back down now.

"I think there's something about you that makes people think they enjoy being in harm's way," she said finally, smiling gently and shaking her head.

"It's the coat," interjected Jack brusquely trying to diffuse the situation. "Definitely the coat. It's very devil-may-care, superhero capey thingie."

"Oh, it's on purpose then?" asked Jenny, sounding genuinely interested. "I always did wonder."

"Ok, ok," said the Doctor impatiently, knowing he lost the battle already. "Let's get back to the situation at hand please. We need to stop the Rani."

"She's got a spaceship filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of people," said Gwen helpfully as the atmosphere intensified.

"And they're all going to be turned into a new breed of Time Lords," added the Doctor, his brows furrowed as usual and the fire in his chest flickered and flared once more.

"But how?" queried Jack, his arms folded and the charming glint in his eye turned cold and empty.

The Doctor stretched out an arm and pointed at the door.

"The Time Vortex," he answered with a darker tone to his voice. A hint of fear and fury in his words. "She found a way to harness its energy. I don't know how, but she did and the only way to get to it from Earth... is to punch a hole right through here."

The Doctor hesitated.

"She's going to tear open the Rift and pour all of the time energy into her creations."

"Time Lords created using Time itself," uttered Jack softly. "But tearing the Rift open that way..."

"Will incinerate the Earth."


	14. Chapter 14 : The Fractured Vortex

**Chapter Fourteen: The Fractured Vortex**

"Well what do we do?" asked Gwen calmly easing the tense moment out of itself. All eyes were on the man-with-a-plan-sometimes, the Doctor, who restarted his ritualistic dance comprised mainly of pacing around the place and ruffling his hair in vain hope of conjuring up an idea. But the pacing and hair ruffling simply continued with no sign of a result. The time rotor rose and fell impatiently in its column, humming tunelessly to itself which the Doctor felt simply made nothing better. He wished he remembered how to put the thing on silent. He couldn't hear himself think.

"I can use the manipulator to teleport onto her ship and stop her or something," suggested Jack suddenly, throwing his idea up in the air to help. "Overload it when she's trying to-"

"No, no," dismissed the Doctor quickly as he continued pacing. "You can teleport out but you can't teleport into a TARDIS with the manipulator even with her defences down. You need another TARDIS to do that."

"Well, we've got a TARDIS and we went in before ok," said Gwen quickly, getting to the aid of her boss. Jack taught his motley crew good teamwork.

"But that was a trap to lure us in," explained the Doctor gently, trying to not sound rude and abrasive. He was prone to that whenever he was under due stress. "Her defences will be up now she knows we're trying to stop her, so we can't waltz right back in. And I hate being in another person's TARDIS. Makes us vulnerable."

He began pondering again, his brain tirelessly suggesting different ideas but one after the other they seemed as inexplicably flawed as the next. Each scheme seemed to fizzle out as he conjured it. As each thought tumbled terribly out of mind, The Doctor noticed that the youngest member of the group began to fidget and his face screwed up in a weird look full of thought.

"Why does she even want to destroy us?" he said finally. "What have we ever done to her?"

"It's complicated Matt," answered Ivy quickly. She had been there to witness the Rani's plan. "Trust us."

"Yeah but I mean, we get along with you guys alright," he said simply, scratching his untidy head of hair. His face was still screwed and contorted with thought as he continued to speak. "You guys aren't that different. You have terrible fashion but that's just personal I guess. I mean you even look like us."

The Doctor wanted to take offense at the jibe about his fashion sense, but his mind was engrossed and absorbed at observing his companions. He'd been travelling on his own for too long, he almost forgot his favourite thing about companions; they often for some mystifying and mysterious reason were able to outthink him.

"Yeah. Morphic field and stuff," said Ivy quickly. "Like you said back on Earth Doctor. Physically, there's very little difference between us."

And then it struck him like a ton of bricks.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," he babbled quickly, rushing to Ivy, his hands outstretched and resting almost inches from her head, as though trying to catch the thought before it disappeared. "What did you say?"

"There's very little difference between us?" answered Ivy alarmed, eyeing the Doctor's fingers and wondering what he was going to do with them so close to her face.

"No, not that," dismissed the Doctor quickly. "Morphic field."

The floodgates of thoughts in his mind were creaking, ready to burst open. The others in the room began closing in as the two of them unconsciously spoke softer and softer, though the still didn't understand. Nobody but the Doctor did.

"Yeah, you said the morphic field made us look just like you, give or take a few parts."

"I said that?"

"Yeah," answered Ivy, more confused than ever, but the Doctor wasn't. His mind exploded with joy and thoughts like a furious kettle boiling over.

"Oh, I am brilliant! You are too by the way. But ho ho! I am brilliant."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Jenny exasperatedly. "What's the morphic field? And how are we going to stop the Rani with this?"

The Doctor's mood and mode changed in an instant. He stood up straight, teeth flashing a cocky grin and smoothly turned into tutor mode, ready to dispense everything he knew to the crowd around him.

"The morphic field!" he shouted to the others around him, arms flailing about ready to do any over the top gestures to assist in the explanation. "When Time Lords evolved into this shape, we left an imprint of it in the universe. All that energy we spent evolving, where does it go? Physics class number one kids, energy is never destroyed."

He thumped the TARDIS console triumphantly as though it would trigger the others into comprehension, but when they looked as clueless as before, he simply continued.

"It only turns into something else. Heat, light, kinetic, and even biological energy. Now -that's- what the morphic field is. Genetic code energy imprinted onto the universe. And every day everything in the universe keeps evolving, so the energy is always there, everywhere. Every minute of every second. As long as there's life, there's the morphic field."

"Yeah, but how is this useful to us?" asked Jack warily, knowing the Doctor was about to explain through an onslaught of words that didn't seem to end.

"Oh, it's brilliantly useful. If you were a powerful Time Lord, which you aren't, except for Jenny and she still has a long way to go, but if you were, using the morphic field you could increase the speed of evolution on planets, make them advance faster like the old Time Lords did before we made laws against that. But anyways, genetics is very intricate and complex and every living thing has a different genetic make. Human genetic make up is similar to apes, monkeys, even daisies and Time Lords, but we can always differentiate one from the other. Even if we're all dead and buried. Parts of me will still be just that slightly different to parts of you and parts of you are so very unique to parts of us.

"I repeat my question. How is this useful to us?"

"All that mutation the Rani did to her experiments? That's our ace in the hole. All that mutation and creation, all that energy is unique. Disgusting, powerful and new but unique. If I can find that energy, and send it back to her experiments through the vortex, it'll make it as though it never happened. It's like a pendulum. All the energy used to make it swing, I'm gonna send it right back so it ends up just right back where it was."

"So all those people, they'll be alright again?" asked Ivy hopefully.

That's when the Doctor hearts dropped. He forgot about all those people the Rani killed and used in her experimentations. He conveniently only focused so much on stopping the Rani and keeping his friends alive, he forgot about the innocent dead.

Then suddenly, a familiar chilling voice rang throughout the TARDIS.

"Tell them the truth Doctor."

"Rani," he whispered hatefully to himself. She found them.

"Tell them what will happen to all those people Doctor," she said carefully, her words full of spite and malice.

"They'll-"

"They'll burn," shrieked the Rani joyously, chuckling like the depraved maniac that she was. However she was right and he was ashamed to tell the truth. So she did it for him. "A genetic energy overload will cause an implosion. Evolution requires time, and the reverse is true. But that's not a luxury you can afford can you, Doctor? Time's champion. Hoisted by his own petard. I am enjoying all the poetry in our encounter."

"We're gonna stop you Rani," barked the Doctor angrily to the faceless voice that echoed in his TARDIS.

"Is that true? Even if you can garner all that energy, and somehow direct it at me can you actually do it? They said you were alone in the final day of the Time War. Can you do it again, today, with children? One, your own? And could you really kill another Time Lord?"

The Doctor did not wish to speak to the Rani. Though his resolve didn't waver, his conscience perhaps did.

"With the humans gone, we could rule over the ashes of Earth from which a new Gallifrey rises!"

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak, but a different voice spoke instead.

"Look," barked Ivy angrily. "I'm all pleased and stuff that the imminent destruction of my species has improved your career opportunities, but that's not going to happen. We're gonna stop you. Doctor, we didn't kill those people, she did."

"Confidence born of ignorance. Your words are empty as your future. This exchange is over."

"Bitch."

There was an eventful silence in which everyone held their breaths and waited for a response, but thankfully none came. And then wonderment and awe washed over all when they realised what Ivy had just done. Gwen, most impressed came over to give her a deserved hug and big arm round the shoulder as all the others cheered and laughed.

"Ivy, how old are you?" she asked happily.

"Seventeen. Why?"

"Nothing. Jack, does Torchwood have a minimum age rule?"

"I don't know," he chuckled at the thought. "Doesn't have a maximum age though."

"I'm thirteen," quipped Matt hopefully.

"Ok, the minimum age rule is now sixteen."

* * *

"Ok, so how are we going to do this?" ushered Gwen purposefully, snapping them out of the moment of slight revelry. All eyes returned to the man of the time travelling house box.

"Right. Yes, yes, yes, yes," muttered the Doctor as he returned once more to his controls and busying himself with them. "This time loop won't hold for much longer, and when it ends, we'll be back in the time stream with no time to lose. Time, time, time, time. We're always running out of time. So I need all of you to listen up."

"Just tell us what needs to be done," said Jenny eagerly, ever the ready for battle.

"First of all, I'm going to need all of you back on Earth."

"What?" came the chorus of reply that the Doctor had come to expect.

"No, no, it's all part of the plan," he answered earnestly with his index finger in the air to silence them. He was glad he had a face that people listened to. "I'll be in the TARDIS, but I'll teleport you down on Earth. I've got very important jobs for all of you. Gwen, Jack, I need Torchwood to set up the Rift Manipulator for me. "

"No problem," answered Jack smoothly and confidently. "The Manipulator should be up and running again."

"Good," replied the Doctor who started tottering around his console doing God knows what. "The Rani's planning to open the Rift and I need you to help her."

"What?" cried Jack alarmed. "Why are we doing that?"

"Because that's the only way I can make sure the genetic energy can get out of the Vortex," he explained, his head popping up from behind the middle column. "We're not going to open it up too big, because then obviously it'll turn everything to ash. Just big enough. We might even get to seal it properly at the end of this if everything works out."

"Have I told you how crazy you are?" replied Jack hands high in the sky exasperated. Though it wasn't an argument against the plan in any way.

"Matt, Ivy, Jenny!" barked the Doctor, rallying them up together near the controls. They rushed eager and ready.

"Yes!" they cried in unison. They seemed to have instantly bonded.

"Right. I need you to have this," said the Doctor as he began rummaging in his pockets. The trio looked on hopefully for something amazing to be pulled out. "My sonic screwdriver."

"Oh great," said Matt slightly disappointed. "What do we do? Put up shelves?"

"No," said the Doctor indignantly.

"But if you took this part out..."

Then the Doctor began dismantling his screwdriver and from various other pockets come up with other attachments and odd looking devices that didn't seem to really fit onto the screwdriver but he managed to cobble them up together. Slowly, the screwdriver went from looking like a misshapen pointy thing, to a misshapen pointy thing with bits that looked like falling out.

"Replaced it with this...come on, get in there...and if my jiggery and pokery classes were any good...tadaa!"

The Doctor brandished his handiwork for them to see and it looked one of the oddest things in all of creation. It resembled something slightly like an inside out umbrella. There was a large satellite looking dish at the top now, and several other things that made odd dings, beeps and clicks running all the way down the former screwdriver.

"What does it do?" asked Ivy apprehensively, eyebrows raised the highest it could go.

"It's a relay," said the Doctor simply. The blank faces that beamed back at him allowed him an excuse to continue to talk. "Technically it's now mostly just a big lovely conceptor geometry relay, with magranomic trigger, with one defunct field separator. But that's just so the whistling goes with the lights."

"Cool," answered Jenny. He thought so too.

"Yeah and it also finally works near hairdryers and cats too."

"So what do we do with it?" inquired Ivy.

"When you're on Earth, I need you to get under the space station and aim this straight at it."

"You want us to get underneath the big giant ball in the sky?" said Matt dispassionately.

"Yes."

"The one we're trying to blow up?"

"Yes."

"Brilliant."

"Don't worry, if this whole thing works out, it'll be gone before you know it," assured the Doctor. "Jenny, I need you to take of them for me. Odds are, you'll run into some UNIT soldiers just trying to do their job. There's a chance they might stop you."

"I know what to do," she replied confidently nodding as she did.

"Don't hurt them," he warned.

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"Promise. "

"Good."

* * *

Jack felt a familiar lump in his throat. It wasn't anything sexual, it was just nervousness materialising. No matter how many times he died or how many times he went off doing something spectacularly stupid, he'd often get nervous. He rarely shows it of course, but it was there. It felt good. It was good. He liked the lump in his throat. It often preceded the adrenalin rush spreading throughout his body. It sounds like a cliché' but to a man who could never die, that feeling was one of the few things that made him feel alive.

"Doctor, are you ready?" whispered Jack softly to the Doctor after finally being able to get him alone for a minute.

"I've committed genocide against the Time Lords once before. I can do it again," said the Doctor after a moment's hesitation. It was a different tone of voice the Doctor used and as Jack stared at him, behind his eyes, he thought he was beginning to look his age.

"You kid yourself," replied Jack, trying to make light of the grave topic they were debating. "Let me do it. Gwen and Mickey can take care of the manipulator."

"You kid yourself," answered the Doctor quickly though he seemed to be avoiding eye contact now and awkwardly inspecting some controls. "My hands have been, are and will always be bloodier than yours."

He was pushing Jack away with mere words. The Doctor wasn't backing down from this. Jack understood that the Doctor wanted this burden to bear. Just like it was with Harold Saxon, it was his responsibility. The burden seemed to surround him now; like a darkness.

"But, thank you Jack," he added finally, looking up at him. A sliver of light penetrating that darkness.

"Yeah...no problem," he replied lamely. He wished he knew the right words to say, but the Doctor sensed the awkwardness and spoke first.

"How do we get into these kinds of things?"

"I don't know," chuckled Jack truthfully. It was true. Things just seemed to happen to them. "Dalek invasions, universal destruction, edge of time itself and now genocide...How come we never go anywhere nice?"

"Next time perhaps."

Next time? If there was a next time. It had gone quiet as though the Doctor too was contemplating on what he had just said.

"I've always wanted to go to that bar on Zog's Zagzigul city," declared Jack truthfully. "They say that's where all the cute sailors go."

"I'll keep that in mind," answered the Doctor as he flashed a grin.

"Good luck Doctor."

"Thanks," answered the Doctor silently. "Now, everyone ready? Here, we go."


	15. Chapter 15 : Ten to Save The World

**Chapter Fifteen : Ten (Minutes) To Save The World**

**In the darkness of space above Earth...**

Wade Watson, sometimes known as "The Mercenary", was by a miracle of his body semi-conscious, though unfortunately frozen and encased in cold ice as he floated and spun in space gracefully, looking down upon the Earth...which seemed to him to have become a lot bigger than last time...also, what are all those giant glowing stripper fairies dancing around it for...and was it just him or was it feeling less gravity-less than a few minutes ago? He had seemingly begun to stop spinning about in space and it felt more like...falling.

This was what went through his semi-conscious, semi-frozen head :

The Rani wasa, wasa, wasa wossname. Thing. Woman. Thass what she was. Woman. Roaring, ancient, centuries old. Strung you along, let you fall in thingy, love, with her, then kicked you inna, inna, thingy. Thingy, in your mouth. Tongue. Tonsils. Teeth. That's what it, she, did. She wasa....thing, you know, lady dog. Puppy. Hen. _Bitch_. And then you hated her, and just when you thought you'd got her, it, out of your, your, whatever, then she opened her great booming rotten heart to you, caught you off bal, bal, bal, thing. _Ance._ Yeah. Thassit. Never knew where where you stood. Floated. In space. Only thing you were sure of, you couldn't let her go. Except...when Torchwood blew you out into space. Peace at last. No more Rani!

And then, he looked upon the Earth again and it looked so inviting...and really really really close. And big.

"Well, here I am!" he said cheerfully as he began to enter Earth's atmosphere and his face burst into flames...

* * *

**Several moments later, and only just ten minutes to save the world...**

Instinct.

"Hey! You guys can't-"

A roundhouse kick, swung well and through as best her body could provide. It hit the man in the soft part of the belly below the chest, not above it where it was sturdy and strong and felled him like a tree. His hand moved to reach for something, but Jenny's fist struck the side of his head first and he was sprawled on the floor.

That was instinct.

She twirled elegant and graceful, yet poised to strike. Soldiers came in packs and groups. She ought to know. She was one, years ago. Or perhaps in the future? She was unsure.

A second man charged at her headlong and unfocused, a clenched fist trailing.

Instinct led her.

She dodged the would-be-punch and everything after that seemed a blur. All the man would remember the next week when he had awoken was that the world seemed to have been flipped upside down after the punch and then he blacked out. In reality, it wasn't the world that flipped. It was him.

You can't turn off instinct. Jenny towered over the two unconscious UNIT soldiers. A voice in her head asked to deliver the final blow. It would be logical and efficient to do so it reasoned. Even though she made a choice, it was still difficult to do the right thing. You can't turn off instinct.  
_  
"It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight. And how to die."_

She said that once. A long time ago. Or not yet. Then another voice came. A gentler yet tortured one.

_"Killing, after a while it infects you. And once it does, you're never rid of it."_

_"But we don't have a choice," she replied._

_"We always have a choice."  
_  
"Jenny, come on! We haven't got time," cried Ivy racing past her. Matt trailed behind in her wake.

"They're coming!" he shouted.

Jenny snapped out of it, then realised her fist was poised to deliver the blow. She turned to see Matt and Ivy running, and a handful of soldiers giving chase. She could still do it. There was time.  
_  
Kill.  
_  
But she didn't. She stood and ran after her newfound friends...

She made a choice once, and though it was difficult, though it went against all that she was born to be, it was the one she made of her own volition. Her instincts told her she was made for war, but her choices defined who she is, was, will be. After all, did it count if you haven't technically been born yet?

Just like instincts, she needed to get the hang of time-travelling as well. It was almost just as confusing. Future? Past? Blah. Hitting people made things seem so much easier.

* * *

_"The blue bars," he said pointing to the modified sonic screwdriver. "When it's close enough, it'll fill to the top. Then just press the button. It'll do the rest."_

_"Got it," replied Ivy nodding. "We just have to get underneath the space station. That should be a -"_

"Piece of cake didn't you say?" growled Matt angrily running alongside her, huffing and puffing.

"Just keep running," advised Jenny who caught up with them.

That was easy for her to say. She didn't look out of breath in any way despite having dispatched ten soldiers already. She even looked like she enjoyed all the blasted running about.

"Through here," she said as her eyes found a narrow alley lined with tall rows of wooden crates. Signs on it indicated that they once had kept fruits and foodstuff for the dining establishments on the proper side of the alley. "We'll funnel them here."

They raced down it as fast they could. Ivy could hear and swore she felt rats. It was rubbish strewn, damp and dark. Though probably darker than it usually would have been at this time of any other day. Ivy looked up above at the great metal orb in the sky which was casting a great shadow on the trio and on most of Cardiff underneath it. If it weren't for the impending doom of it all she might even have found it magnificent as it shone against the darkness from the tiny little lights on its surface. Ivy returned her gaze to the device cradled in the nook of her arm, which buzzed and beeped from time to time. Somehow she thought it even felt a tiny bit alive, from all the constant moving and squirming parts on it.

The blue bars weren't full. Only three-quarters of the way there. They weren't close enough.

"We've got to get even closer," she announced to the others.

"Closer?" shouted Matt incredulously. "We're right underneath it with a bunch of soldiers behind us!"

"Not for long," replied Jenny. A thought seemed to have occurred to her. She waited for them to exit the narrow alleyway and then kicked down the stacks of crates. It looked in all the world to Ivy like a bad mix between jenga and dominoes. The stack of high heavy crates toppled and fell in a cloud of dust to the horrified expressions of the UNIT soldiers who may have been too close.

"You think they're going to be alright?" asked Jenny worriedly.

"Alright? That was awesome!" said Matt excitedly, eyes filled with happiness at what he just saw. Never mind the fact he'd been in space, the TARDIS and everything else. He was very much a child who hadn't seen much of the world.

Ivy didn't pay much attention. She was still concerned that the blue bar wasn't full. She stared up. They were right underneath it yet...

"It's still not close enough," she muttered to the others. Could the Doctor have been wrong? Or perhaps she misheard?

"Well what else can we do? We can't get any closer than this. We're right below it," said Jenny.

"Should we call him? Or Jack?" added Matt helpfully.

"No," whispered Ivy as she looked around, eyes narrowed as though trying to find the answer right before her eyes somewhere. The Doctor was trusting her to do this. A piece of cake she said. He must have known, calculated or suspected if it might not work. Smart man like that, he would have predicted everything. Every little detail. And if thought something might have gone wrong, he would have said. But he didn't. Unless...He had expected her to figure it out herself. That somehow if anything were to go wrong, he believed that she could overcome it. There had been that weird glint in his eye right before he teleported them back on Earth. A look of utter confidence in his companions. All of his companions. A completeness and most faithful of trust Ivy could never have known in the orphanage.

"There!" she screamed as the penny dropped. She pointed to a close building. Impressive and taller than the rest. "We're right underneath it, but we can still get closer if we get to that roof."

"Those gates look too tall to climb. I can kick hard, but not that hard," said Jenny.

Ivy tried to think again, but Matt simply chuckled.

"I wondered why the Doctor gave it back to me," he said still laughing.

They stared down at him curious and then from his jacket pocket, he proceeded to pull out the sonic blaster. A brief silence was all that was needed to acknowledge what they had to do – sonic blast open the gates.

"10 minutes, better start all that running again!"

Ivy followed after Jenny as best she could and so did Matt, but not before proclaiming his joy.

"BEST. VACATION. EVER!"

* * *

**The Hub, Underground**

_"Alright everyone ready to go?" asked the Doctor._

_"Aye, aye!" she cheered._

_"Oh and Torchwood! Front and centre please."_

_"Yeah?" she said as she took one little step forward._

_"If anything goes wrong...don't come after me."_

_"What? Why?" asked Gwen, puzzled and afraid._

_"I understand," said Jack._

_"Good."  
_  
She wanted to say "Good luck" or something to that effect but before she could ask or say anything else, there was a blinding flash which made her head hurt. The Doctor seemed to be drowned out in light, she made to open her mouth and say the words but then the TARDIS blurred and the intensity made her blink. Just once. Nothing more. Silence fell, and her words had been drowned out. The darkness comforted her eyes like it always did, and when she opened them again, she was back in the Hub.

And from the disquieting silence, it was as if someone just turned up the volume up too high. She tried to get her bearings but Jack was already barking orders to everyone, brushing swiftly past her as though he suffered no discomfort at all.

"Mickey, Martha! Get up, get moving," he cried. "We need to get the manipulator up and running."

They moved. And not long after so did Gwen. She went to her station, pounding in codes and scripts and strange different diagnostics for the manipulator on the computer. Unquestioning. She did it without a second's thought.

But she had so many questions, setting off like fireworks in her mind. What had he meant? Why was the Doctor willing to die? Why was the Doctor willing to kill his own people? Wasn't he the last few of his kind? It'd be like killing a part of who you were. Like killing your own family. Wouldn't it be wrong? She didn't sign up for this. She just wanted to help people. Why was Jack following his orders? Didn't he realise this? In fact...why was she following his orders? Why couldn't we just stop? Was this all worth it? Why couldn't everyone just say something to stop it all? Was it so hard for everyone to just walk away?

But not everybody would stop. The Rani wouldn't have stopped. She'd continue...

Then she understood. She looked up, wiping tears in her eyes she didn't realise she had before, watching Mickey, Martha and Jack. Just a few hours ago they had been so happy, sitting around telling jokes. Ianto howling silently in laughter. The smiles on their faces. All the good times they had flashed before her... Then she remembered her husband, the future they could have. A family, a new home, children she'd like to raise... Then she remembered everyone else. Her fat noisy neighbours who'd always invite her over every Christmas without fail though she's never been, her bickering parents who cared too much for her well being, her friends from the police force whom she wished she made more time for, the newspaper vendor kid who had a little crush on her, the toddlers at the playground running happily along and mistaking her for their mother whenever she went to walk in the park, the homeless man on the street she used to pass everyday on the way to the Hub, asking occasionally for a bottle of booze but who'd always flash her a sincere toothless smile...

She finally knew.

They were fighting because they had to. Whereas their enemies, whether it be alien or human, fought because they wanted to. Because they sought to. Because they love to. That was the true difference. The Doctor and Jack weren't different from her. They were exactly the same because of the choices they made. They fought to protect the ones they love. And only that. If they could stop it, end it, let everything go, they would have. But their enemies wouldn't stop. And if they didn't, neither could the Doctor. Or Jack. Or even her._  
_  
People say fighting's unnecessary. It is. But when you have a reason to live - people you care for, people who care for you in return- then it's worth fighting for. Dying for. It was risking it all for. Hell, it wasn't even her fight. In fact she was just a tiny pawn in the scheme of things. With no power, should have come no responsibility...except that's not quite true. Everyone had a part to play. For the people they care, for themselves, for the Doctor.

And_ he _was fighting the _good _fight.

So Gwen Cooper looked up at the ceiling, pass the iron, the wires and beyond the miles of concrete, into the dark foreboding sky, simply wishing the Doctor good luck in her own silent way.

* * *

**Magpies Electrical, Cardiff, Stairs**

"Stairs, I bloody hate stairs," muttered Matt hoarsely. "Why'd they have to turn off all the electricity anyways?"

"Just keep moving Matt!" cried Ivy. They were running out of time with five floors to go. That'd take a minute per level if they wanted to make it. The blue bars on the machine were increasing, but it wasn't full. Ivy swore, though she wasn't sure it was uttered aloud under her heavy breathing. There was a sharp pain to the side of her body, and her legs were sore and perhaps even numb.

Jenny was leading the charge, and though normally cool and composed in demeanour, even she was tiring out. Perspiration soaked all their faces. It was a brutal number of steps to the rooftop.

But they had to keep going. Today was an awful day to die.

* * *

"Alright come on darling, you can do this," cheered the Doctor rushing about in the TARDIS, running, threading, plugging thick cables and wires of various colours and shapes from all over the TARDIS, into the console, giving it more power. Things were haphazard and all over the place. The cloister bell rang and chimed its hollow sound, reverberating the halls and the Doctor had his brainy specs on, which were clear signs: There was going to be some serious shit about to go down.

The Doctor's eyes lit mad and crazed as he spun round and round the console mashing, bashing, and crashing all the controls as hard as he could.

"Come on!" he urged her pleadingly. "Just need to get enough of the morphic energy. Breathe it in, suck it, absorb it like a big giant absorby thing!"

Outside, the Vortex was raging wild and tempestuous. The clouds of energy gathered speed, lightning strikes ripped past as a strange red mist began to gather around the base of the TARDIS. A mist that sparkled. It came slowly, trickling from every which way and silently coming together. The TARDIS acted like a magnet, pulling the mist forth to it as hard as it could. The Doctor watched from inside on his screen, as sparks began flying again by his console. But he didn't care. It was working.

Slowly but surely, the morphic energy came, the mist spreading along the police box and then slowly sticking onto the TARDIS until finally it began to envelop it almost entirely, like a red crystalline crust spread all over. The TARDIS normally wooden and blue was now turning sparklingly, dazzling and blood red.

"Brilliant!"

Everything was set on his side of the vortex. A few seconds later and "We're done here and relaying controls of the manipulator over to you Doctor," said Jack over the intercom.

"Good. Thank you Torchwood," he replied with relief. They were all cutting it a bit short. He didn't expect things to be moving so slowly.

"Are we all set?"

"Not entirely."

"Oh boy...The kids?"

"5 minutes to go."

"Doctor, if we can't do this in 5 minutes, we won't be able to do it at all."

"I know, I know."

"Do you need me to get them?"

The Doctor maintained his silence.

"Doctor?"

* * *

**1 minute, 2 seconds to Possible Death of World - but at least we started with Wales...**

They stood underneath the large space station; the air atop the building was ferocious, whipping about their faces. They looked at the device, and the bars were completely blue. They shouldn't have hesitated, but they did. (Don't blame them; they've had a crazy day.)When they were done with that, Ivy pressed the button and let the device settle on the floor. It rattled and various parts began moving. Green smoke began issuing out of various little holes and the thing began to spin, ring, sing, jump, ping, ting, moo and then made a great deal of fuss bouncing about before light shot out of the tip like a great miniature lighthouse or beacon. Which was what it was. A beacon. And it shot straight up, pointing to the space station.

* * *

**Time Unspecified, Vortex, TARDIS**

The equipment responded, and the console blared bright and loud. "HAH!" cried the Doctor happily.

They made it.

But he had no time to lose being proud of those kids. He slammed his fist on a button.

Raw vortex energy crackled down the large thick cables, a voluminous glow ran through it and earthing itself harmlessly into the centre console. It went into the core and essence and the heart of the TARDIS, empowering her like never before.

Elsewhere however, inside the dark deep multiversity of the TARDIS which went on forever if you let it, disobeying the mundanity of such things like the laws of physics, rooms and objects warped and distorted itself even more. Every room and every object within first wobbled, then melted, moulded, shaped and oozed like soft clay or something silly like custard. In a place that couldn't exist, losing all dimensions with time itself running out and away from them, Matter simply stopped knowing what to do…and just wobbled a lot. Only the main control room held its shape. Barely.

The central column was now a pillar of light, energy and so much more. Then gradually, it began to spread down to the console. Light shooting out of every orifice, bathing the equipment in glowing white energy before consuming it whole until you could barely see a trace of shadow or the outlines of things on the console.

The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at his spectacles and the lenses turned into a heavy tinted black.

"There," he replied cheekily. "Much better. I can see clearly now. The raaain has goooone…"

The Doctor exercised restraint, and did not break fully into the song like he would have wanted to. Though he did wish he met Jimmy Cliff…

Then, once the whole console wall entirely light, he picked up a hammer, then looked for the big red button he kept just for intense adrenalin pumping moments such as these. Because you always needed a big red ominous button for these sort of moments. And that sort of moment was right...about...hold it...a little longer...1 sec...just a-

"NOW!" he slammed the button with a heavy blow of the hammer.

* * *

Nothing happened. Then without warning pillar of light seemed to crack like glass, and just as suddenly, it turned into dusty white smoke and rose like a tormenting whirlwind right up into the unseeable ceiling.

Outside, the same occurred. The exterior of the TARDIS which was crystalline and sparkling red, cracked like a broken ruby and suddenly turned into thick red smoke and whirled itself to the top. Then a brief pause before the light atop the TARDIS exploded and shot streaming particles of morphic and vortex energy down the Vortex itself. Red and white balls of light raced down it at great speed, jostling each other, sending sparks raining and trailing behind them before reaching the end. A large veil of nothingness and the energy passed through it, into a world of anti-matter darkness, once the reign of Omega and then resurfaced out of the darkness into the night sky of Cardiff.

The stream of energy persisted and did not hesitate in its flight. It shot itself straight and right through into the centre of the space station in the sky, leaving a great gaping scar of a hole and nothing but thunder and ash in its wake.

* * *

Ivy watched in horror as a great streaking flash of red and white light tore through the air from nowhere, thundering explosions rocking the city below it. Nothing stood in its way. Then it made impact upon the helpless space station that floated above them, destroying everything it touched, came out through the other end, roaring endlessly before dissipating slowly into nothingness beyond the horizon. Ivy nearly fell to her knees from the great blast, disorientated and wordless in awe. Matt struggled to help her up, eyes wide, beads of perspiration on his forehead with an expression of awe or fear. She noticed the colour from his face had drained away.

Ivy stared up at the smouldering remains of the space station. Lights slowly began to fail, sparks cascading off it and sounds of explosions seemed to be issued from the depths of it before it reached the surface too. In its destruction Ivy began to see truly how large in scale the space station was. In fact it seemed to grow bigger and bigger with every passing minute.

Then she realized it wasn't growing at all. It was getting closer. It was... falling.

"WE'VE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"

The others looked at her blankly, stared up and realised, but she feared they were already too late. They were at the highest point, on the highest building, closest to the space station. It would fall on them and they could not outrun it.

* * *

Jenny stared around, her brain working at the speed of a Time Lord. She assessed the situation calmly, looking at the threat and environment around her, drawing out plan after plan. But they weren't good enough. They had nothing to work with. So she in turn relied on her instincts. Dad told her to take care of Ivy and Matt. So that's what she's going to do.

She ran to them and grabbed them in each arm, wrapping them along their waist and lifting them easily. They protested and wriggled against her but she held them tighter and close.

"What are you doing?" shouted Matt as he stared up at her and pass her to the great space station in the sky that was slowly falling upon them.

"Being a little bit mad," she answered him happily. She sounded just like her father for a moment. "From how high do you think I can jump?"

But she didn't wait for an answer. The answer would come to her. As the space station thundered closer and closer, till it reached within touching distance, Jenny raced to edge and did not look back. Or away. Or down. She concentrated upon reaching the rooftop building closest to her and jumped as hard as she could...

She closed her eyes. She did not dare to look. She feared it was too far. She feared she failed her mission. That they would all die here. Today... Just as she had found her father again...Just as she had found friends...She wanted to say sorry. To Matt and Ivy. To her father. To herself. To anyone.

All she felt was rushing air. It seemed to go on forever. On and on, there was nothing but the sensation of air and flight. Then, there was a strange noise.

Her feet suddenly touched the ground and she promptly stumbled forwards, legs buckling, falling and rolling across a familiar metal floor. She remembered the tone of the metal whenever she walked on it. Familiar smells and sounds too. A whirring noise and of strange mechanical objects doing overcomplicated things. She opened her eyes, the light streaming back in and saw the Doctor racing towards her, hugging her as tightly as he could. Beaming and proud. She laughed. She did not know why. It wasn't particularly funny. But she laughed. And as the Doctor went to hug the others, she looked behind.

The TARDIS doors were open and saw that they were still in Cardiff. The building she jumped off was there, still standing proud and tall. She felt tempted to jump back off and on it again. It was quite the adrenalin rush. But this idea was shelved when she saw no trace of the space station. No signs of its looming presence or that it had been destroyed even. It was just gone. As if it simply vanished.

"Where'd it go?" she asked. "Where'd you send the Rani?"

"The Void," replied the Doctor soft and sombre. They all looked at him puzzled and he flashed a winning smile. "The empty space and bits between Universes. There, the space station can explode and fall safely, without hurting anyone."

"Will she survive?"

"I doubt it," said the Doctor as he returned to main console room and sat on the chair. "The energy doesn't just destroy what it touches, it 'll cause the matter to break down and implode. But Time Lords are plucky, and she's one plucky Time Lord. So even if she did, she can live out her remaining lives there. Alone. There's no way out now her TARDIS is gone. She's trapped forever."

"Good," said Ivy, joining him at the chair and plonking herself on it with great relief. Jenny nodded in agreement and got up to join the rest in the main console room. She too sat upon the dusty old chair, cramming herself together. Only Matt stood, lingering around them like a lonesome figure.

"But don't you feel sad?" asked Matt suddenly, looking at his sneakers guiltily. "Not having anyone else? Being alone is awful. I hate being alone."

"Well I'm not alone anymore," the Doctor replied still smiling. "I've got Jenny now." She beamed back at him, proud to be who she was. Daughter of the Doctor.

"And you've got me," chirped Ivy, punching his side playfully.

Matt chuckled. "I guess we've all got each other, even if we're not family."

"Sometimes," said the Doctor carefully, getting up off the chair and putting his hands upon the young boy's shoulders, "that's what being a family means."

"Cool," he answered simply as even the most versed man would have found it difficult to express precisely what he was thinking and feeling. But what he thought next was simple to express because it was on everyone's mind now. "Where next then?"

* * *

Author's Note : One more chapter to come tomorrow, and an epilogue you don't want to miss the next day. Just in time for a Doctor Who episode on tv too.


	16. Chapter 16 : The Final Adventures

**Chapter Sixteen: A Time Lord's Final Adventures**

"Leaving?" he asked her.

"Yes," she replied for the umpteenth time now.

"When did this happen?" persisted Mickey. He hadn't been informed about this at all.

"A month ago to be honest," said Martha as she cleared up the medical table as much as she could with Mickey interrogating her. "I told Jack before that and he understood my situation. He's cool with it."

"Situation? I thought you liked doing this? I thought you said you were happy."

"I was," she answered and looked at his face, so full of confusion. "But I need to step out for a bit. Have a bit of fresh air. I need time to think. Especially after-"

"Oh," replied Mickey stupidly. It dawned on him what the 'situation' was all about. Martha rubbed her ring finger absent-mindedly. It wasn't too long ago that an engagement ring was on it. Now it was gone, along with a part of Martha Jones. The room was still and silent, nobody moved or said a word for a long old while.

"I didn't think-"

"Well next time pay a bit more attention," she replied gesturing vaguely with a hand. Mickey nodded, looking serious.

"What are you going to be doing now?"

"Stay indoors," she answered flatly. She was rearranging the equipment now, placing them back dutifully in proper order.

"What?"

"I've been travelling too much," she continued, flatly, "I need to stay indoors more. Fish and chips, watch Graham Norton and just...just spend time with the people I care about. My family. My friends."

"Will you be coming back?" asked Mickey. "To Torchwood. Or UNIT perhaps."

"Maybe. Eventually. I don't know yet. Once I get bored of mum and try to kill her, then I know I'm all fixed. But for now, I just need to spend more time with humans than aliens."

"Well, don't be a stranger you know," he said, rasping his knuckles gently against the metallic table. He seemed to have lost quite a bit of confidence as the conversation carried on. Outside and above the medical room, distant shouts of laughter and joking around travelled and crashed against the unwelcoming mood now permeating from Mickey. "Call or something. We care about you too."

"I know," she replied blankly, not noticing as she continued. Martha Jones was a professional whilst at work. Whenever she donned the white coat, she didn't much care about much else.

"I mean, you know, now you're unemployed and everything, you're gonna have like lots of time to yourself, so if you're like ever in town or something, we could...I don't know...Get a cuppa or something like that," stammered Mickey, persisting. The room was all sorts of awkward as Martha looked up at him, an eyebrow raised as she tried to understand what he had just said. It seemed the words simply came out of him slightly unwillingly.

"If I'm ever in town?" she asked incredulously. "I live in London. Other than Torchwood, what would I be in Cardiff for?"

"Well...I don't know," he replied disconcertingly as he tried to escape her gaze. He couldn't bear to look into her eyes. Mickey Smith never learnt to deal with rejection much. Or girls…

"Oh!" cried Martha as she realised. Mickey grinned and made an uncomfortable face but still didn't look at her. He seemed much more interested in staring at his boots. "I didn't think-"

It went quiet again. Today was full of those moments. Then she giggled. Even Martha was surprised that she giggled. She actually giggled at him!

"Well next time pay a bit more attention," he said embarrassedly, looking up and smiling. "How do you like your coffee anyways?"

* * *

"You have no idea how much scars turn me on," said Jack as he embraced Ianto grabbing him by the sides, both of them now mostly shirtless and trousers unbuckled.

"Is this really the right time?" cried Ianto suddenly, half laughing, half hurting from his injuries. When Jack returned and called him up to his office, he thought it was going to be about how he got shot and how it hurt him. Jack was despite astounding accounts and evidence, still quite a softie...Ok, not at the moment. Right now he was definitely, extremely not soft.

"Do you wanna wait first?" asked Jack puzzled and immediately releasing him. "Does it still hurt?"

"Well I m-mean," sputtered Ianto conflicted.

"Besides," said Jack, his voice trailing and a finger now tracing the edges of Ianto's new scar, "I thought you liked it when it hurt."

"Oh alright."

Jack pushed him against the wall and Gwen who had come in to the room to say goodbye before heading home, quickly left the room, wide-eyed and slightly fearing for Ianto's well-being.

* * *

After its ordeal of having no dimension to exist in, the kitchen in the TARDIS was now less wobbly and fully functional again, but having an awful lot to do. This was mainly due to the fact that the Doctor decided to throw a feast as some sort of celebration. The reunion with Jenny and the acquiring of new companions he felt was truly something to be happy about. And today, he was very happy.

Everyone wore party hats, blew on party blowouts whilst dancing as the hits of ABBA echoed throughout the TARDIS and occasionally but enthusiastically helped with putting up streamers and many different seasonal decorations all over the walls, tables and ceiling. An enormous Christmas tree stood in the middle of the dining hall with baubles, Christmas lights and angels whilst Halloween pumpkins sat under the tree looking oddly joyous rather than malicious now that it was so out of place. The table was decorated by Jenny with everyone receiving cards saying "Happy Easter" or "Happy Birthday". Everyone's seat was full of glitter when the Doctor playfully tickled her and the glitter bottle tumbled out of her hands. But it didn't matter it was mostly a mess. They were cheering, laughing and simply took in the intoxicating fun.

They only began to stop when everyone decided they were really quite hungry and retreated a bit less energetically to the shiny, glittery, tinselly dining table. The kitchen had prepared quite a feast. Ivy suspected that the TARDIS was psychic because it seemed to have made her favourites as well as Matt's. Ivy was presented with turkey, mashed potatoes and cake whereas Matt got his pizza and coke. He added to this by pulling out a packet of M&M's he had stolen. Jenny had some sort of noodle thing and sushi, whereas the Doctor ate fish fingers with custard. But everyone shared amongst each other and then had ice cream topped with every topping for dessert.

"Is it always going to be like this?" asked Jenny, slumped and resting her head on the table, hiccupping.

"I hope not," moaned Matt as he slid off his chair and onto the floor. "Too...much...food." The others laughed.

"No, no," dismissed Jenny with a lazy wave of her hand. "I meant before this. I meant like...with the Rani...and the danger. I can deal with it but is it always, going to be like that?"

Ivy sobered and looked at the Doctor who seemed to have no ill effects of having eaten almost everything the kitchen had to offer. Instead he was merely staring up and beyond the ceiling and into the stars sagely. Albeit sagely with a party hat on.

"Mostly," he said. "Sometimes things get tough and scary a little bit creepy, but mostly...mostly it'll be mad and generally fantastic! There'll be things and places to see, hear and even smell. Running-"

"Lots and lots of running."

"Precisely, so Matt's question still stands I suppose..."

"Where do we go now?" repeated Matt as his head popped up from under the table.

"Wherever, you like," grinned the Doctor as he straightened himself out.

"Planets?" asked Ivy enthusiastically.

"Oh-HO! Not just planets. Not just planets Ivy. Stars! Stars, small ones, big ones, some as big as your head, a lovely bunch of stars, ships, from space or the piratey ones, cowboys in the Wild West, dragons of Singapore, Martians, Raxacoricofallapatorians. There's so much out there! Everything that's ever happened, or will happen in the future, where do you want to start? Any where you want, any time you want. Only one condition!" exclaimed the Doctor as he jumped up onto the table and rushed towards to the middle to face them all.

"What?" muttered Ivy hesitantly.

"It has to be...BRILLIANT!" cried the Doctor as he jumped, fists pumping triumphantly into the unknown vastness of space above and beyond him. "ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!"

* * *

**Singapore, UNIT Base 51  
'Serenity Valley'**

"Where did you find him?" growled General Adama as he stared carefully through the plasma shielded window examining the new subject. They called him Subject Zero, and at the moment he was just sitting there, meditating. No cuffs, no restraints. There was no such need. Apparently the subject simply broke them every time, but did not try to escape. They called him Subject Zero...He wasn't sure subject was the right word for it. They were fifty floors underground, every thick concrete wall was reinforced with titanium bars underneath and the fact that there was a plasma shielded security barrier every few hundred meters in the facility, Adama preferred to think it was more appropriate to call the subjects here as prisoners instead. Nobody besides authorized personnel who's entered in has ever managed to get out besides in a body bag. If you were lucky.

"Mexico," answered Professor Parkman. He referred to his chart which he balanced on his bulging stomach, scanned it with his tiny little eyes and wrinkled his bushy walrus moustache at it. "Our reports state he had fallen from space. Fortunately he smashed into an unpopulated area, though when UNIT forces arrived, he was able to eliminate them all with his bare hands...which were at the time unattached to his body."

Adama snorted derisively.

"We were able to finally apprehend and detain him after several hours in which he stated his name, date of birth and next of kin, though no such records of him exist. We've therefore called him Subject Zero, though he prefers to be called-"

"Wade Watson," whispered Adama.

"How did you know?" asked Professor Parkman surprised. "This is strictly classified."

"I know," drawled Adama as he turned and bore his menacing eyes into Professor Parkman's. It felt like his gaze could pierce his skull and reach into the far depths of his mind, and the touch of deadliness behind it did not escape the Professor's thoughts. The change of mood was instant and intense that the Professor's breaths grew heavier the longer Adama stared down at him. "I know because I helped make him."

"W-What do you mean?" trembled the Professor. Each word uttered by Adama now weighed heavy and lethal. "What do you mean 'make'?"

Adama took out a cigar from his coat and lit it carefully. He needed it if he were to continue because he didn't have any alcohol on him. It had to do. He took several long puffs, still staring at Wade who did not acknowledge any of them. He just sat there. Meditating. It was most unnerving. Wade was only ever quiet when he was serious.

"Not too long ago, UNIT were getting very tired of aliens just killing all of our boys," muttered Adama slowly, trying to make the cigar last. "Time after time they'd come, and time and time again we'd send in our troops. Once in a while, we get lucky. But mostly, those young men go back home dead. And if we're really lucky, we get to tell them how they died. If not, we'll end up lying to their families."

"I see..."

"So we set up a secret UNIT funded project to help not just our soldiers, but for the whole of humanity. One day the aliens will come, even live amongst us and we had to be ready or we'd be wiped out," said Adama. "I was in charge of enhancing the biology of humanity, leading a team of the world's best eugenicists of the time. Our objective was simple. We had to make humans stronger, faster, anything it took to ensure our survival against the alien threat. We were enhancing people, Professor. Turning them into something better for the future. Learning from our encounters with aliens and preparing ourselves by subjecting people to evolve into a higher state of human."

"Were these people...volunteers?" said the Professor hesitantly. He did not know if he wished for an answer, but he had to ask. His body was betraying him, shaking and taking tiny steps back. The General stood still, indifferent and unmoved by the horrors he was about to share.

"Some were... Some didn't have anything else to live for... Mostly, they may have been too young perhaps."

"My God..."

"Serums of enhancements, one after another we tested them. And after many months of trials, all of the successful biological enhancements we injected into an orphan whom you now call Wade...Unfortunately for us, loading in everything we could think of resulted in Wade losing his all of his memories and drove him to insanity. He turned savage and when we tried to contain him, he escaped, killing almost everyone and destroying the entire facility. We tried to track him down. As you can imagine, he was a great threat as well as being a great investment. But tried as we might, there was no trace of him. We expected cities to be destroyed or at least some sort of minor devastation with human casualties...but nothing. We assumed he may have died, though we did search for a body. In the end, that was mostly that. Everyone who was part of the project mysteriously disappeared and nobody spoke of it again. But who'd have thought I'd see him here? I wonder if he even remembers me. More importantly, does he even know his true powers? Imagine what we could do with a weapon like this. He could have taken Fallujah on his own. Perhaps even Canary Wharf. He'll be a very good addition to the team..."

"W-wait," stammered the Professor. "I thought we were supposed to be the good guys! I'm not going to be a p-part of this. This is a crime against humanity."

"Against?" growled Adama, his deadly eyes returning its gaze upon Professor Parkman. A flash of rage streaked as he stepped forwards and grabbed him with both arms by the coat. Adama pulled him up off the ground, shaking him aggressively with astounding strength and spat out his cigar as he ground his teeth.

"You experimented on humans! Please put me -"

"Against humanity? Why don't you tell that to my son? Why don't you look him in the sockets and whisper into his metallic Cyberman head the crimes against humanity?"

"N-no. What are you doing? NO!"

The lights went out. The General's eyes glowed red. His skin transmuted from a healthy pink to a steel shimmer of scales, and his teeth and claws now razor sharp to a point and black like the darkness surrounding them. That was all Professor Parkman saw before he died. A day later, all personnel had been replaced and all information regarding the facility became classified. Only known information is that the rebuilt 'Valiant' and her new sister the 'Valkyrie' currently take residence at this facility when not on duty.

* * *

**The White Guardian's Task**

The world here was white. Completely and utterly white. It wasn't just colour however. It was light. Everything seemed to be made of what you would call light though unlike any you've ever seen before and neither warm nor cold, but merely existing. There were no walls except for the floor which was simply a flat and blank something on which to be. A bright mist not experience anywhere else hovered inches from the floor that simply was for things to be on. Everything was white and this was how it was for many eons in the White Void, but not today. Today, a woman dressed in white who called the White Void home was speaking to a stranger who did not belong. He wore a black hooded jacket, looked pale and tired.

"So, do you understand what to do?" she asked him quietly though her voice boomed and echoed with great strength.

"Yes," answered the Master softly. His voice did not carry. It was heavy and weary. "But I still have a lot of questions to ask."

"Such as?" said the woman in white. Her face lined, and her eyes looked heavy but her expression unwavering in the light that bathed and blurred her edges.

"Why me?" he asked. His head had been down, listening obediently to the White Guardian's dictations and instruction, but was now slowly lifting. Feeling and strength were returning to him. It first returned to his fingers and he stretched them and tested them playfully. The White Guardian observed him quietly and hesitated before answering him.

"You are one side of the coin," she said simply, though her voice amplified even louder this time as though this information held more gravity and importance. "The Doctor is the other. The Time Lords of Gallifrey had a name for the two of you - The Enmity of Ages. One can not exist without the other, unless nothing else exists. If we lose either you or the Doctor, then all of creation might well follow."

"What about the drums?" asked the Master as he looked up to the White Guardian's face for the first time. His eyes widened and his pupils adjusted to the brightness.

"It has ceased to exist and the link now severed," answered the White Guardian, taking no notice of the Master's strength returning.

"The drums are...gone. Good. Well I thought...What about Rassilon - is he still alive?" he asked carefully.

"He has been returned to the Time War," she said.

"You're avoiding answering me," he responded almost immediately, though his voice no longer heavy. A malicious grin returned to him, one he wore with much pride. "I was back in the Time War and now I'm here. So answer me, does he still exist?"

"If you should take up this task, your paths will cross once more," she admitted, though she did not show any guilt or ill-intention of any kind. She merely did not wish to cloud his judgement with such information. Not when she had such a great and dark task for him.

"Good. I have to leave my unfinished business alive," replied the Master smiling, his hands now on his hip as he twisted his head to ease a painful crick in his neck. Then he stretched his back and arms, asking, "What about my body?"

"Your hunger has ended and your body healed from all ill effects."

"Shame. I was beginning to enjoy projectile lightning," added the Master sarcastically as stared down at his palms. He then mimed shooting energy out of his hands towards the White Guardian and accompanied it with self-made sound effects. The White Guardian did not react which served only to make him laugh once more. "Could have used it at parties and stuff. I get very bored." He made a face as though finishing a twisted joke but still the White Guardian did not respond the way he wanted her to. He made a face and rolled his eyes at her.

"If it's a weapon you seek, your mind will suffice," she said, her voice drowning out the Master's actions. "Even against Rassilon," she added.

"Well, I always did well at school you know," answered the Master sardonically but still his attempts did not bring about anything from the White Guardian. Then his playfulness evaporated instantly, his eyes flashing deadly intent and asked her, "How do you know I'll cooperate?"

"Because if you don't, then you will be returned to the end of the Time War, where you will meet your final end," she answered as if a threat. The Master glowered and narrowed his eyes observing her. "But that's not the only reason. I have seen your true self."

"Really?" chuckled the Master as he cocked his head to one side.

"You wish for redemption," she replied. "After everything you've done."

"Is that so?" replied the Master dismissively, crossing his hands and raising an eyebrow. He laughed.

"I see the truth of it all young child of Gallifrey," answered the White Guardian. The Master's laughed was swallowed up in the wake of her echoing voice. She would not allow the Master to dictate this conversation. "You wish to know. You wish to know how everything would have turned out had it not been for circumstances beyond your control. You wish for a second chance at life."

"I'm a Time Lord," he replied. "We have thirteen chances at life. Death is but a door for us. Myself, I've had lots of doors. Some revolving."

"But you now know that everything you were before may not have been truly yourself."

The Master pondered for a while, taking it in. "Well, I guess that's sort of true."

"So will you accept this task?"

"Yeah why not," he answered nonchalantly. He swivelled around gesturing to the world around him. "There's nothing for me to do around here anyways. It's all fog."

"Good. Then you-"

"Ah, but one more thing though," interrupted the Master, his grin widening as he cocked his head to one side, eyes narrowing at the woman in white. A strange deranged delight seemed to ooze out of him.

"Speak and the White Guardian shall answer," she replied serenely, emotionless and utterly still.

"No, no. I don't want to speak to the White Guardian. I want to speak to you," growled the Master pointing a finger in her direction. "The body, the person, and the host you're using."

The woman said nothing.

"Who are you?" asked the Master assertively.

"I cannot answer something you already know," she replied, the expression on her face unreadable, though a hint of a smile traced her lips. However the Master did not know what it meant. The Master taunted her in return, smiling his wide smile, teeth bearing fully in front of her.

"Ok, how did you end up here?" asked the Master, his hands stretching outwards to the world. "How did you end up like this? How did you end up as the new White Guardian?"

"I traded my body so it would be the new host," replied the woman almost immediately. She seemed to have anticipated the question, or seen it whilst it was still forming in the Master's head.

"What for?" insisted the Master, a finger waving and then pointed at her. The White Guardian did not speak immediately. For the first time an expression began to spread upon her face. One filled with grief more than sadness. She blinked and her eyes shut, time stretched till she opened her eyes once again before she spoke.

"To save the Doctor," she said. Her voice no longer booming and imposing. It was fragile as though a touch would break it. "To save my son... The Man Whose Name Dare Not Be Mentioned. Not even by me."

"Well, seems you're doing it again. Saving him I mean," refuted the Master, a grin spreading on his face once again. The nasty grin that stretched on for ages.

"No," she insisted, her voice stronger though not echoing across the white void surrounding them. "This time it is not by my will that the Doctor be saved, but that of Time. It is merely a curse of the world that such an irony would exist."

"No need to talk about life's ironies," replied the Master dismissively waving a hand away. "I know them far too well. I'm on a mission to save the Doctor, so if you don't mind, I'd much rather not harp on it. I prefer it called a cruel twist of fate's dagger, lodged unfortunately in both my hearts."

"You saved him from Rassilon," she persisted. "What difference does it make now?"

"It wasn't my intention to save the Doctor," lied the Master defensively. "I only wanted to kill Rassilon."

"Lies are your greatest weapons, but it will not work on a Guardian of Time such as myself," she said, her voice echoing again and her expression now lifted. Her eyes turned cold and hollow and she straightened herself. "With that self-sacrificing act you sought to redeem yourself. I see the truth of it all. The truth of you. Another irony I should think."

"Whatever," dismissed the Master once more. He did not like the idea of others visiting his intentions and thoughts. That was why he had taken such great lengths to fully master the brain and spent much of his life studying psychic abilities and hypnotism. He wished to never have his true motives discovered by others. That, and the constant drumming.

"Are you ready?" she asked him assertively, turning them back to subject.

"More or less," he shrugged.

"Take this," she said, as from nothingness but light, she presented a white glowing ring that rested in the palm of her hand. It shimmered and blinded the Master so much so that he had to shield himself from the light at first, before the intensity subsided and the ring finally formed into a solid object of pure white. The Master looked unsure at first but then moved forwards to collect it from her. He took it between his thumb and finger and brought it closer to observe it.

"A Time Ring?" he said finally. "This brings backs memories. I had a prototype you know."

"This is no ordinary Time Ring. It will only bring you to wherever you need to be in time and space," said the White Guardian.

"There's always a bloody catch eh?"

"Use it well," she said finally. The Master put on the ring and knew their exchange was now over.

"Guess I'll go now...Need me to give the Doctor a note? Tell him his mum's alright? Oh wait, I probably can't. There's always that sort of rule isn't there? How about a cheery hello? Get him to pick up some bread? Milk? Turkey? No?" asked the Master sarcastically. "Ah well. Buh-bye!"

And with a great flash of white light, he vanished in terrible echoes of his maniacal laughter that resonated throughout the universe. The Master survives. The Master always survives. This time however, he has to save the Doctor. And not just one Doctor. He had to save them all...

_Death is but a door._

* * *

**Black Vs White**

"You've replaced your lost pawn then?" asked the Black Guardian, with feigned sincerity and curiosity. Very little escapes his knowledge, for he creeps up in the hearts and minds of everything that has a glimmer of darkness. There is nothing he cannot turn to his nefarious use, no knowledge he does not wish to learn. He continued with his act nonetheless. "Oh my... the Master? That's quite a surprise. I did not think you would take such a dangerous gambit. Our game has taken a decidedly more interesting twist now you have a new host."

"I'm an excellent judge of character," she replied pleasantly though her eyes flashed dangerously at him. "I think you'll find my assessments to be right on the money. You are however mistaken if you think he is merely a pawn."

"Yes," answered the Black Guardian contemptuously. He pressed his fingers together and pondered wisely in his shroud of darkness. "But is he really the person to fight for the Spirit of Light in Time?"

"The light aims to help," answered the White Guardian simply as she bathed in the shimmering light behind her. Her gaze still fixed upon him. "Sometimes with the Doctor, he heals people in need; sometimes execute dangerous enemies. Either way helps. The Master is the same. He may be evil and corrupt, but within our game...Who better than a devil to contend with hell?"

"You've become a wonderful shade of grey if you don't mind me saying so," answered the Black Guardian, his words trailing in the air maliciously.

"I'm afraid I'll be taking that as an insult," she replied tersely. "Especially since you have not shown me all of your new pieces. Hiding them all in your shroud of darkness."

"And you blind them from me with your light. Let us show them together then."

"As you wish," she replied.

The cloak or black unravelled like smooth gaseous silk. The glaring light crumpled like parchment. In an instant, everything was gone and all the pieces stood revealed.

"My, my...what a wonderfully interesting game we've got this time," whispered the Black Guardian, as he made his first move upon the board.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED.**

_One man must face his past.__  
__To save our future._

_Doctor Who: The Nightmare Child_

_

* * *

_Author's Note : I am awesome, and as Nathan Fillion so rightfully puts it, _"_'BAM!' said the lady._"  
Stay tuned for a sneak peek of what more may come.  
_


	17. Epilogue : Stranger Times

**Epilogue: Stranger Times**

**Wastelands of London, 2020  
Earth Resistance  
**  
The year is 2020 and it is the fifth year of the War. Our enemies came from nowhere. Out of the silence and out of the darkness they appeared. Stars died where they came from and they left no light in their wake. Not a glimmer. The shroud kept them hidden from us. Hidden long enough till they were ready to strike. Hidden until it was too late. Many were lost on the day they descended. Cities burned, homes destroyed and countries broken. Our enemies did not stop for night or day, for fair weather or for storm. They came to kill, by sun or moon

But a new dawn was about to come, and we fought back. Mankind retaliated. Indomitable we were.

Our armies went to war, not knowing of the peril that was to come. Men in arms against a common foe. A terrible foe. Forgetting old prejudices, they came together, setting aside everything else. A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality. And so, we had the numbers on our side, and we sought to end the night.

However even then, it was not enough. The light did not come. Mankind went against enemies that were too strong, too great and too experienced in warfare.

And so, like so many times before, it fell upon instead, on a select few to save the Earth and its entire people, from The Great Time War.

* * *

Luke Smith stared at the dirty broken mirror on the wall and it stared back. Eyes weary, beard unshaven and hair full of dirt and dust. He remembered being young and handsome once, but that was in a different time. A different world. He gathered water from the metal bucket with his callused hands; one wrapped in a week old bandage, and washed his face. The water was freezing but bracing, and he splashed it on his face. It did little to change his looks but it woke him up just as he wished it would.

He picked up his self-made shotgun and swung it back on its sling. Over the centuries, Earthlings have tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until now, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, Cyberman...

BOOM.

The bathroom shivered, shaking off loose dust and broken tiles that came crashing down onto the floor. The light on the ceiling flickered and went out. The bombs fell hard today. He made his way slowly out of the room, his heavy armour weighing him down and his foot crushing the fallen ceramics like glass. The armour he made himself out of Sontaran technology used to be as light as a feather, but the burden of responsibility that fell on it now was something else. You could barely move or breathe in it nowadays. It choked out the life it was supposed to protect.

He returned to the war room and there was a hurried atmosphere. People were rushing about. Mostly to the armoury. It was a nice change to the atmosphere of constant despair at least.

"Squad leaders everywhere are requesting a rally point, Captain," reported Gwen Cooper, busying herself with the communicators and the 3D map that floated inches above the table. "Where should they go?"

"To war," barked Jack Harkness as her armed himself with his rifle and stowed away his pistol.

Luke moved quickly to find his friends at the armoury. Clyde, haggard and unkempt, was busy looking through the metal crates. There was very little order here. Not many people fighting in the resistance were trained soldiers. Just civilians with arms and duty thrust upon them. New, extra or unwanted weapons were simply chucked here in a pile for convenience. Some still had rounds in them. Standing next to Clyde were two distinct robots. K9 Mark VI and a heavily modified Cyberman. It was bulkier, had more weapons fitted onto it than normal and was heavily painted a decorative mix of red and black. It too was looking through the pile with its visual sensors that came out as blue rays out of its eyes.

"Looking for an upgrade Mr Smith?" said Luke sarcastically. The Cyberman turned to face him, the rays blinding Luke slightly before it turned it off. "No Luke. K9 and I are assisting Master Clyde in searching for a suitable weapons replacement."

"He is very picky, Master," responded K9, flashing his red LED eyes.

"Look, all I need is a bit more boom alright?" argued Clyde dismissively. "Can't believe I dropped my shotgun. Damned frakking Silurians."

"Well, maybe we could take down Mr Smith's Gatling gun for you," said Luke helpfully, patting the weapon the Mr Smith's shoulders.

"I beg your pardon?" replied Mr Smith alarmed. Luke and Clyde laughed. It was his favourite and very effective. It proved very useful in deterring their enemies from simply charging them straight on.

It's been nearly four years now since Luke with the help of Professor Malcolm Taylor, fitted Mr Smith's data matrix and Xylox cortex into a non-functioning Cyberman at his own request. Strangely, during the course of this transfer, Mr Smith had become a lot more human and been slowly developing a more complex personality. Clyde reckoned it was because he could move and talk and experience things for himself now. Luke's logic believed it was a glitch after having to save Mr Smith in a thumb drive to keep him away from being used by the enemies. Luke's heart thought it was because of the losses they suffered in the war. That in pain, Mr Smith learnt something abstract that the numbers and data couldn't provide him.

"Oi, what are you doing?" barked a voice from behind. The former PC Andy came storming down at them. He was in charge of the armoury. Sort of. "Pick one and get moving. There's a queue forming up you know."

"Just hold up, I'm choosing."

"Choosing?" he cried incredulously. "Back in my day, we didn't have fancy tanks and assault rifles! We had sticks. Two sticks and a rock for the entire platoon! And we had to share the rock! You should consider yourself very lucky soldiers." Andy somehow seemed to think being in charge of the weapons meant he had to act like a salesman. Either that or the fighting cracked him. He was either boisterously trying to be cheerful or getting into rows with others. Luke learnt to tread carefully with him.

"Alright alright," said Clyde exasperatedly as he gave up searching through the pile. "I lost my shotgun. Need something badass. Have you got anything?"

"Usually the good Lord works in mysterious ways, but not today," cheered Andy suddenly as a thought came to him. He dived quickly under the table and resurfaced a minute later with a weapon Luke had not seen before. "This here is 4 kilos of straight-up dee-vine intervention. A bit more fun though are these babies that go with it - grenade launcher rounds. Lots of heat in the pipe for you."

"That's what she said," joked Clyde.

"Don't get smart with me kid," snapped Andy but he grinned anyways before tossing them something that Luke knew were not green eggs. "And take these grenades with you and leave already. But do NOT open till Christmas."

"Thanks man."

"I suggest we go to the main hall Master. It is about to begin."

They wandered back into the midst of the crowd. The underground bunker was large but was never meant to hold this many. Churchill used to roam here, pacing and planning the end of the war. Who'd have thought it'd be used the same way again now? Certainly not Luke. It was Mickey Smith's idea. He had fought in a war in a parallel world and they used the Imperial War Rooms. It was a brilliant plan. It was out of the box and Mickey Smith had lived outside the box for a while now, because that's what happens when you fight. You improvise. Protocols, orders and textbook strategies only ever worked when there was no enemy. Anyone who's ever been hit knows that before a fight, you seemingly always have a plan. That plan quickly goes out the window when you get hit though, and you forget. You panic. You end up hurt.

The place was old and bits of the old war could still be found if you looked in the empty spaces. Papers, documents, maps and ancient disused phone lines. Fortunately, they were able to improve the equipment. Computers, laptops, holograms, touch screens, plasma shielded doors and whatever else they could bring or make down here. Occasionally, Luke with his super intelligence would help, but those times were rare and far apart. He found it therapeutic fixing things instead of blowing them up or destroying them. And it helped the other soldiers. Building better weapons or equipment. Thought what every soldier wants -- really, really wants -- is no-one shooting back at him.

Mostly however, he would be in the infirmary visiting comrades. Doctor Martha Jones was kind and welcoming, and would not turn anyone away from visiting their fallen and injured friends. She knew well enough the fleetingness of existence to deny anyone such an opportunity. Luke guessed she was also needed the company. They say she used to fight in the front lines, but now her skills were precious and many say she hasn't left the bunker for years. Until today.

Everyone was going to get their hands dirty today. A final assault some called it. A suicide run said many others.

A slow time passed as they walked, but before they knew it they were already there. Countless others stood in the hall anxiously waiting. Doom hung over them and though their hearts were heavy, they were stubborn people. Agent Johnson eyed them cautiously with her one good eye still remaining as they entered the room, fingering her rifle and then resumed to peering gloomily down the barrel. The other eye was lost when Scotland fell to the Sontarans. She did not speak much. A strong silent type. Even when she lost the eye, all she said to Luke was that she counted herself lucky it wasn't her shooting eye so she could still shoot back.

Next to her a handful of recruited Slabs stood motionless and silently staring straight ahead and waiting patiently for orders. Well at least, Luke thought they were staring. He wasn't sure they had eyes. Or a face, under those black helmets. But he had gotten used to them for a while now. Captain John Hart was able to recruit a few hundred of them some months back, when he first joined the resistance and as such only he could provoke a response from them. They were useful in that way. Entirely loyal and unquestioning. It's amazing how fast and effectively gold works even outside of Earth.

Slowly, others gathered and a slightly better cheer accompanied these bands of fighters. War and council left them little leisure, so many pounced at the opportunity of respite such as this. Jokes and songs from untroubled days would echo here and there.

"Hey, if I get shot, be sure to give me lots of drugs," joked Rhys Williams heartily to his wife.

"Hey, Rhys, remember when I told you to shut your mouth?" asked Gwen.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Well consider that a standing order," she said, as chuckles of laughter followed after from Mickey and Captain Hart.

Then, Captain Harkness entered and silence washed over them once again. He looked the same ever again, though his clothes seemed to have taken quite a beating. He had refused to wear any gear or amour, which he said was wasted on him. It would be more useful on others.

"So what's the plan?" asked Lady Christina de Souza, breaking the silence with the question clearly etched on everyone's minds.

"Well, shoot anyone that's not a friendly," said Jack unhelpfully. "Thought I'd mix it up a bit."

"I'm not sure my insurance covers this," joked Clyde.

"We haven't got the force to face our enemies head on. We know this. But a strong enough strike team deployed at the right place will turn this war around. Rumours have already spread about what this mission is going to be about and I'm afraid all of it is true. The good and the bad."

"And the ugly?" chipped in Luke.

"That too, especially," he replied gravely. "I'm sorry we couldn't brief this earlier, but even I didn't know the whole story. We only just got to coordinate our attack with all the other teams elsewhere. We're going to retake the Valiant."

A collection of pauses and intake of breaths silenced the room.

"So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air?" asked Martha as she entered the room in her new gear and waved about her rifle. "Andy issued me a rifle, not wings."

"We have teleporters," said Jack as she patted Martha on the shoulder. "And hopefully more from our allies if they make it to the rally point."

"Which team is as crazy as us?"

"Rose is leading a group from Lambeth. They've been taking defences under what used to be the London Eye."

A chorus of cheers rang out at the sound of the name. Feet stomping and whistles accompanied it. The name demanded respect. "My kind of crazy," said one voice from the crowd.

"We'll meet up at the rally point at 0700hrs," said Jack as he projected a holographic display from his vortex manipulator. "Getting there's going to be difficult. It's crawling with hostiles. They're in standard formation - little bastards up front, big ones in back."

"What kind?"

"All of them. Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans. You name them, we're probably going to be fighting them."

"Good thing about Sontarans, they're precisely the right height to kiss my ass," said one soldier. Jonathan Davies. Former UNIT.

"I heard there's a divide amongst the Daleks now," said Lady Christina. "Apparently they're really angry. What happened there? Did something happen?"

"If my face looked like a squid, I'd be angry, too," said Mickey.

"We don't know much about that," explained Jack. "All Rose learnt from Donna was that Davros disappeared. Perhaps we'll find out later."

And just as he said it, brazen alarms sounded and filled the air. Everyone got up immediately, a surging force binding them together. A press of roaring men flew pass the doors, picking up their helmets and weapons.

"Alright boys, you know the music, time to dance."

Running life fire, they sped out and raced along the wall, and up the steps and emerged out of the depths of a burning London. Luke was last to exit. All along the entrance wall of the bunker was a memorial of all those lost in the fight. Names etched in stone. He could barely read them all, but he knew the ones closest to him. They burned in his mind.

_Sarah Jane Smith..._

_Maria Jackson..._

_Rani Chandra..._

_Jo Grant..._

_Harry Sullivan..._

_Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart..._

_Doris Lethbridge-Stewart..._

_Alonso Frame..._

_Mike Yates..._

_He Whose Name Dare Not Be Mentioned...  
_  
And at the end were inscribed the words he had chosen. "A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED.**

_One man must face his past.__  
__To save our future._

_**Doctor Who: The Nightmare Child**_

* * *

Author's Notes: The Nightmare Child arc/follow-up may or may not happen, depending on your response. If you don't trust me and my tale-telling, then it might not happen. If you do, it might happen. If you don't but I feel like doing it just to prove you wrong, then it may happen If you do, but in the end I thought it was a rubbish idea, then it may not.. But at the very least, I hope you've enjoyed reading The Fractured Vortex. I had major amounts of fun writing it and I hope you did as well reading it. I don't usually ask for reviews because I don't much care for opinions. Every author should write aiming to please only one person and not everyone, and in this case it was for my own enjoyment. I wrote something I thought I'd have liked to read as a Doctor Who fan. However now at the end of it, if you would like to, I really wouldn't mind some praise because I'm an awful person like that. Thank you all for your patience and general loveliness towards me and my writing. I hope to bring you as much joy as you have done so for me and my tremendous ego.

_**You've been fantastic, and you know what? So have I.  
Love,  
He Whose Name Dare Not Be Mentioned**_

P/s Maybe I should just do a Firefly fanfic. That could be all manners of interestingness. Or any other fic. What would you like me do?

Oh and addressing a few things, the Black and White Guardians are not new creations. They're from Classic Who. In fact, most of the characters are from Doctor Who. Omega? Try and spot them all lol.  
Except General Adama, Jonathan Davies, Wade Watson, Ivy and Matt. They're mine.

Oh and if you think I've not written a proper Doctor Who story, I agree with you. But I do what I like.


	18. Announcement

Dear readers,

So I got your message. You want more of what I can give, based on what I've already given you. Again, I have to be disgustingly appreciative and say, I'm really quite glad that you lot like my story, The Fractured Vortex. It really has been a pleasure to write it.

However, I was going to leave it at that. I was prepared to give it up after its completion. To have it both wrapped up and open for further imagination at the same time. But I got your message.

You wanted more. And so, I have decided that I will give you what you're asking of me. The sequel. The Nightmare Child. It will be difficult now that there is some sort of expectation to at least be on par with my previous story, plus, I made a bloody tough premise, but I will endeavour.

So look out for it. I will continue with the format or method or whatever it is called of how I wrote and posted The Fractured Vortex. Approximately a chapter or two a month. I am busier than ever but this gives me just the right amount of time to churn out proper and satisfying chapters that's worth waiting a short while for.

But that's not all! The Nightmare Child won't be the end of the story at all. I've planned it - well it's a thing, respect the thing – and I've decided it's going to be a trilogy of a…thing.

We already have the first part of the trilogy, **"The Fractured Vortex."**

The second is **"The Nightmare Child"** and is now being written and put up bit by bit over the coming weeks/months.

The finale, the story to end all stories and in the darkness bind them, will follow immediately after. It is called, **"Eternity's End".**

You wanted more, and I will give you more. And trust me, you won't want to miss any of it. It's going to be fantastic!

Yours truly once again,

Rif


End file.
